Ernie Els looked as though he had not shaved since the last time he was at Kapalua for the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship, even though the stubble was more like four days than four years. Standing atop the steps of the clubhouse, gazing across the Pacific to the island of Molokai, Els soaked up a view he sorely missed.

The Fantasy Insider: A new kind of excitement

KAPALUA, Hawaii (Ticker) - It may be time for shoveling snow and recovering from the holiday season for most of the country, but it’s time for golf on the PGA Tour.

Jose Maria Olazabal
is confident of a debut victory as captain of Europe at this
week’s Royal Trophy but said an Asian upset awaits if there are
any slip-ups by the twice champions.

Inside the field: Mercedes-Benz Champ.

Fantasy Insider: The 2009 PGA TOUR season

John Daly has been suspended from the PGA tour for six months, according to multiple reports.

John Daly smashed one tee shot off the top of a beer can during a pro-am. At another tournament, he returned from a rain delay with Tampa Bay Buccaneers coach Jon Gruden as his caddie. And his most memorable photo this year came in an orange jail suit, eyes half-closed. Daly said Wednesday that such unwelcome publicity is why the PGA Tour suspended him for six months.

Paul Goydos once joked that he made PGA Tour history in 2007 by winning the Sony Open as the first player to beat a field that included a 5-foot boy (Tadd Fujikawa) and a 6-foot girl (Michelle Wie). If Goydos wins at Waialae next month, it could be against a field that doesn’t include either of Hawaii’s most famous golfing teens.

San Diego was still buzzing after five days of a U.S. Open that ranks among the most memorable. The airport was filled with chatter, and travelers stopped to watch highlights at every bar of Tiger Woods wincing and willing his way to victory. In a working area of the Crown Room at Lindbergh Airport, the agent for Tiger Woods sat alone with his legs crossed, feet pressed against the window as he…