Mercedes-Benz Championship
Monday Dec 31, 2007 – Sunday Jan 6, 2008

Groups we're watching: Kapalua

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Jan. 2, 2008

All times eastern

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Steve Stricker and Chad Campbell
Tee time:
4:15 p.m. ET
Total TOUR wins: 8
Why you should watch: Stricker, the two-time PGA TOUR Comeback Player of the Year, is paired with Campbell, a player many have expected big things from for quite a long time.

Neither player has great history at Kapalua (the best finish for either was Campbell's T15 effort in 2004). Still, both played strong late last season (Campbell won the Viking Classic and we all remember Stricker's tremendous run in the FedExCup Playoffs). It will be most interesting to see how they both kick off their 2007 campaigns.

2007 Stat comparision
Player Events Cuts Made 1st 2nd 3rd Top 10 Top 25 Scoring Avg.
Stricker 23 19 1 2 1 9 14 69.39
Campbell 28 18 1 -- -- 2 6 71.22
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Steve Flesch and Brandt Snedeker
Tee time:
4:25 p.m. ET
Total TOUR wins: 5
Why you should watch: Snedeker, the 2007 PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year, hits the course with a guy that likely got some votes for Comeback Player of the Year.

Snedeker broke through for his first win at the Wyndham Championship in August, but he also had some impressive outings early in the season, as well. Who could forget that 61 he had on Thursday at the Buick Invitational that led to an eye-opening third-place finish.

For Flesch, 2007 was more of a slow build. It came to quite a crescendo, however, when he won twice in a two-month stretch at Reno and Turning Stone.

2007 Stat Comparision
Player Events Cuts Made 1st 2nd 3rd Top 10 Top 25 Scoring Avg.
Flesch 31 19 2 -- -- 3 6 70.96
Snedeker 29 23 1 -- 1 6 13 70.01
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Vijay Singh and Paul Goydos
Tee time:
6:15 p.m. ET
Total TOUR wins: 33
Why you should watch: Singh returns to Maui to defend his Mercedes Championship victory from last season, while Goydos returns to Hawaii, where last year he got his first TOUR victory in 11 years at last year's Sony Open in Hawaii.

Goydos' victory was his only top-10 finish of 2007. Singh, meanwhile, won at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard in March and finished second at Canadian Open presented by Franklin Templeton Investments before falling off a bit at season's end. How productive were their offseasons? We'll soon see.

2007 Stat Comparision
Player Events Cuts Made 1st 2nd 3rd Top 10 Top 25 Scoring Avg.
Singh 27 25 2 1 -- 7 16 69.49
Goydos 19 12 1 -- -- 1 1 70.81
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