This Week: Mercedes-Benz Championship

It's a brand new year, and the PGA Tour is ready to tee off a brand new season. The Mercedes-Benz Championship opens the 2009 PGA Tour schedule on Thursday at Kapalua in Hawaii.

This winners-only event - which began in 1953 as the Tournament of Champions - will be minus a couple big names. Tiger Woods, of course, remains out of action recovering from knee surgery; and Phil Mickelson is skipping the Mercedes, as he usually does. But the 33-player field does include the likes of Vijay Singh and Ernie Els, Camilo Villegas and Anthony Kim.

See our Mercedes-Benz Championship profile page for the full list of past champions and more tourney info and trivia.

Tournaments scheduled around the world this week include:

PGA Tour
Mercedes-Benz Championship
Jan. 8-11
The Plantation Course at Kapalua, Hawaii

European Tour
Joburg Open
Jan. 8-11
Royal Johannesburg and Kensington Golf Club, Johannesburg, South Africa

Asian Tour/European Tour
The Royal Trophy
Jan. 9-11
Amata Spring Country Club, Bangkok, Thailand
(The Royal Trophy is a Ryder Cup-style event pitting teams of European golfers and Asian golfers.)