A dozen years ago, one of golf's greatest seasons started with a bang when Tiger Woods overcame Ernie Els in an unforgettable playoff at the opener in Maui.
That, sadly, was the high-water mark for the Hyundai Tournament of Champions, which has been in steady decline since.
So much so that, far from a bang, cue the whimper as the 2012 golf season officially gets under way at the Kapalua Plantation course on Friday.
Steve Stricker's one of my favorite players, but if the Wisconsin farmboy is your headliner, it had better be the John Deere Classic.
No other sport opens a season so lacking in star power.
To be fair, neither Woods, who's back in Florida after standing on the sideline while Stanford choked away the Fiesta Bowl, nor Els, who has lost his putting stroke, have qualified for this week's event because neither won on the PGA Tour last year.
But what about the 11 others who earned spots in what used to be a prestigious tournament, only to turn down an all-expenses paid week in paradise and a shot at the $1.12 million first prize?
How incongruous that they're refusing to get paid to do what most of us pay to do: fly to Hawaii in the cold of winter to lay by the pool, sip on umbrella drinks and play a little golf?
But that's the harsh reality of golf in 2012: a million bucks isn't enough to get a lot of these guys out of bed.
Of the 39 winners who qualified to be in Maui this week, only 28 have shown up.
More than a quarter of the field's missing, and it's not the bottom feeders.
Three of last year's major champions — Rory McIlroy, Charl Schwartzel and Darren Clarke — are absent, as well as world No. 1 Luke Donald and other big names in Adam Scott, Martin Kaymer, Dustin Johnson and Justin Rose.
Oh, and Phil Mickelson, though that's hardly news given Lefty likes a long offseason and hasn't played at Kapalua since 2001.
That so many big names stay away is reflective of two things: the fact they don't really need the money and that the global golf season's just too long.
Donald, for instance, last played in Australia right before Christmas. Given the exhaustive way the Englishman ground his way to No. 1 last year, he probably needs at least a month away from his clubs.
He's not alone in wanting time off: Woods historically plays in his Chevron World Challenge in the first week of December and doesn't play again until late January. He hasn't been in the field at Maui since 2005.
Given that the suits in Ponte Vedra Beach who run the PGA Tour wouldn't dream of letting a dollar fall off the table, the season won't get shorter or start later, so instead of meaningful reform there will be gimmicks like this year's Monday night finish.
In the meantime, no matter what the Tour or the Golf Channel says, the season will really begin wherever the big names gather for the first time.
In years past, that's been at Torrey Pines, the boyhood course to both Woods and Mickelson, but this year it will be Abu Dhabi on Jan. 26.
Woods, Donald, McIlroy, Kaymer and Jason Day have all been paid handsomely to be in the field.
Given the importance of 2012 to Woods, who's hoping his improved form at the end of 2011 and win at the Chevron will prove the "start of another great run" in his career, it has raised eyebrows that he's not starting his season at Torrey Pines where he has won seven times, including his last major, the 2008 US Open.
"I love playing there, but I also like playing in the desert, as well," Woods said in explaining his decision.
"And why not? I have never been to Abu Dhabi, and this is the first time, so decided to mix it up a little bit."
He somehow managed to ignore the other 3 million reasons he's going in that explanation.
As always, though, Woods will be the story of 2012, just as he has been the story since he changed everything with that win at the 1997 Masters.
Is he really back?
Have the scars of the sex scandal healed sufficiently to allow the 36-year-old to resume the chase of the only record that matters to him: Jack Nicklaus' 18 majors?
Or has time passed him by?
And if he is back, for how long?
Is this not now the age of the young guns, led by McIlroy?
Bubba Watson saw Woods break his two-year winless drought at Sherwood Country Club in December, but it wasn't the swing or the fact he drained two clutch birdie putts on the final two holes to beat Zach Johnson that has Watson believing Woods is back.
"What I noticed is the way he walked. He was walking like he used to walk," he said.
"And he was smiling a lot. We haven't seen him smiling a lot for a long time.
"I think his life off-the-course is starting to take hold. . . . And that's what's scary for us pros.
"I think we're going to see the Tiger Woods of old back again."
