Get ready for Champions Tour '08 -- and for John Cook

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Aloha, 2008.

Two weeks after the PGA TOUR touched down on the golden shores of Hawaii, the Champions Tour begins its season on the Big Island in the 50th state.

New stars like Daniel Chopra and Steve Marino were born there in the past few weeks on the TOUR, but that won't happen this week. Like Frasier, Norm and those guys on "Cheers", everybody knows the Champions Tour players' names already.

John Cook has a big season lined up on the Champions Tour. (Greenwood/Getty Images)

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More: About John Cook

Tom Watson. Hale Irwin. Tom Kite. Bernhard Langer. Those players, and many more, will be participating at the MasterCard Championship at the Hualalai Golf Club in Ka'upulehu-Kona, Hawaii.

Not to be confused with the PGA TOUR's first event -- the Mercedes-Benz Championship is open only to winners from 2007 -- the MasterCard Championship at Hualalai has three different requirements for eligibility.

Any winner of a Champions Tour major within the past five years has a spot in the tournament. It's been a while since the 2007 season ended, and you might need to clear those Champions Tour cobwebs, so here's a refresher: The five Champions Tour majors are the JELD-WEN Tradition, Senior PGA Championship, U.S. Senior Open, Constellation Energy Senior Players Championship and the Senior British Open.

Those not eligible for the tournament as recent major winners can also earn a place for winning an official Champions Tour event within the past two years. Also, four sponsor exemptions are given to players with a minimum of 30 combined career victories or players with 15 combined victories and a major championship victory.

That's why Curtis Strange and Ben Crenshaw, both winless on the Champions Tour, have a chance to start their Hawaii vacations...er, Hawaii work, a week earlier than the rest of the Champions Tour.

Whew, that was a lot of information to absorb. Let's narrow our focus to one player who will be beginning his year in Hawaii, as he has for the past few decades. He even opted to end his 28-year streak of appearances at the Bob Hope Chrysler Classic, this week's PGA TOUR event and a tournament he won twice, to join his Champions Tour brethren.

But, despite booking a return trip to the islands thanks to a win in his second career Champions Tour start at the 2007 AT&T Championship, John Cook's year hasn't gotten off to the best start. His beloved alma mater, The Ohio State University, lost 38-24 in the BCS title game to LSU. That was the second straight national title loss for the Buckeyes in football.

Maybe next year, they'll win a title. Cook, however, is just beginning his season and has a plethora of opportunities to add more notches to the win category on his Champions Tour stat sheet. He plans to play in most events and is anxious to begin his "rookie" season (he didn't turn 50 in time to play in six events in 2007, therefore he will be a rookie again).

"It's as good of Bermuda greens that I've ever seen in my life. Hualalai always had great Bermuda greens over here for the Hawaii Open or the Sony or United Airlines Hawaiian Open. We always felt those were the best Bermuda greens we've ever putted on. And these right here are perfect," Cook said of the Hualalai course.

And he should know about perfection in Hawaii, since he won the 1992 United Airlines Hawaiian Open.

"There is not a spot on them. They roll true. There's not a lot of grain," Cook said, continuing to rave. "I guess that's pretty much why the scores get low around here is you're putting on perfect greens, and that's a nice way to start the year."

With lava rock surrounding several of the holes, Cook said it can be an intimidating contrast from the lush green grass to the craggy dark rock. But Cook, who worked hard during the off-season to remain competitive against the other rookies and veterans on Tour, has a simple plan: "Just keep your ball on the green grass, and you'll be okay."

The MasterCard Championship at Hualalai is the first of 29 official events on the Champions Tour and offers a $1.8-million purse.