Sips of Maginnes: iPhone Scrabble battle, SBS success

text size

Stan Badz/PGA TOUR

Jerry Kelly was a busy man at the SBS Championship after bringing 14 family members to Maui.

The best players in the world don't always know who is running the show at any particular week's PGA TOUR stop. Now, the veterans may know that the tournament director in Charlotte is Kim Hougham or that it's Ken Kennerly at The Honda Classic. But it is fair to say that many others don't know the name of the man responsible for their comfort each week, and obviously that is a shame. But Gary Planos, who runs the SBS Championship, not only is familiar to every player, he is one of the most popular men on TOUR. One of the reasons is that he calls each of the winners throughout the year to congratulate them and invite them to Maui for the season-opening tournament. The other reason is that once you arrive on Maui he takes a personal interest in making your stay as enjoyable as possible. The only thing he doesn't do for the best players in the world is putt.

Related

Maginnes column archive
Post a reaction on FanZone

Planos' hospitality and the "aloha spirit" isn't reserved just for the players. He treats everyone from fans to staff to press like they are part of the family. It is not hard to relax on Maui even if you are working. The 28 guys in the field this week proved that as they caught up on stories and tried to shake off the winter rust. But there was still time for fun and games -- and one of the most popular last week was iPhone Scrabble. That is not the actual name of the application but you understand the concept. In essence your scrabble board is on the screen and you play against other players on-line. Some of the players and caddies are hooked. The competition is fierce and the trash talking is significant. TOUR players would never talk trash to each other when it comes to golf but when it comes to an eight-letter word with a triple score -- well, watch out.

Some players on Maui this week didn't have time for high-tech games, though. They had too many people to entertain. Jerry and Carol Kelly brought 14 family members out of the cold of Wisconsin to enjoy some time in the sun -- but that wasn't even close to the biggest group. Rory and Amy Sabbatini had a total of 30 people with them last week. Ironically, though, all but Amy flew out on Sunday. They saw Rory play some pretty good golf for the first 54 holes as he moved to 11 under. Imagine their surprise, though, when they landed on the mainland to discover that Rory had shot 10 under on Sunday and nearly won the golf tournament.

John Rollins and his wife Heather took a different approach for this SBS Championship. After bringing the whole clan for his two previous trips they decided that this time they were going to make their visit to Hawaii a small family vacation. So they enjoyed a quiet week in the sun with their daughter. And who can blame them? Whether players brought an entourage or just close family to Maui the refrain was the same: "This is a special place."

Of course the conversation on the driving range and the locker room did turn to those three players who didn't make the trip to Maui. As has been his custom of late, Phil Mickelson opted not to come. Henrik Stenson, who won THE PLAYERS Championship last year and re-joined the TOUR for 2010, was leading Europe to victory in the Royal Trophy. And, of course, Tiger is where ever Tiger is. Not to mention, the media center was missing several familiar names due to the economy.

In so many ways it is their loss. What they missed was one of the four best closers in the game showing why he succeeds where so many fail. I'll give you Woods, Mickelson and Vijay Singh ahead of Ogilvy but no other. There are certainly players with more wins than the laid-back Aussie but there are few who win as convincingly whenever they get the chance.

There are obviously other players like Steve Stricker who give themselves at least a half dozen chances to win every year and close the deal often. But few have a knack for winning the way Ogilvy, who earned the first invitation back to Kapalua, seems to these days. The rest of the year will serve to fill the field of players who will try to take the title that has belonged to Ogilvy for two years. Whoever's lucky enough to start the 2011 season at the SBS Championship will have a tough time wrestling the title away from the new king of Kapalua.

Former PGA TOUR player John Maginnes is a columnist for PGATOUR.COM. His views do not necessarily represent the views of the PGA TOUR.