A Swinging Good Time

The Mitsubishi Electric Championship at HualālaiPro-Am puts everyday golfers together with the game’sgreats for an experience that can’t be beat.

BY JAMES A. FRANK

How many sports let the average Joe and Jane compete side by side with the greatest players in the world, at the same venues we ogle on TV? Only golf. Nearly every professional golf tournament kicks off with a pro-am that teams amateurs and their heroes on the very course where the pros will be competing for millions of dollars.

But while all pro-ams are special, there’s nothing to match the intimacy, the entrants, and the atmosphere of the pro-am at the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualālai, the first official tournament each year (in January) on the PGA Tour Champions.

The fun starts with the pros: a small, elite field that comprises the winners of the previous year’s Champions events and a who’s who of Hall of Famers. Then there’s the spectacular oceanfront Hualālai Golf Course, designed by Jack Nicklaus, which plays through fields of black lava. Tying it all together is the stunning Four Seasons Resort Hualālai, where the pros and most of the ams stay, providing unique opportunities for mingling at the most relaxed of world-class properties.

“It’s unbelievable because you’re with these great golfers for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, their families included,” says John Coleman, an attorney from Los Angeles who is about to play in his seventh MEC Pro-Am. “They go out of their way to approach you, accommodate you, and engage with you. Champions Tour golfers have an appreciation for how blessed they are, and they show that in their interactions with people like me, other participants in the pro-am, and spectators.”

Why wouldn’t the pros be happy? They’ve just come out of a long vacation and the holidays, they’re all winners, and is there a better place to get back to the game than the island of Hawai‘i?

“It’s one of the coolest places on the planet,” says 2018’s MEC winner, Jerry Kelly, who is entering his third year on the PGA Tour Champions. “Hualālai is something special, and everybody knows Four Seasons does it right. Plus, I love the Big Island. The people are great.”

Kelly also acknowledges that his cohorts—a little older, a little wiser, and very appreciative of the “mulligan” that senior golf has given them— go out of their way to make the experience special for the amateurs. “Our pro-ams are the way proams are supposed to be. It’s not about grinding but ‘Let’s go have some fun!’ ”

“The interaction with the pros is incredible,” says Sal Massato, a businessman from Palm Springs, Calif., who has played in the pro-am three times. “They’re just like you and me, guys out there making a living. They are extremely open and sharing, especially when you talk to them about anything other than golf—about their families, how they got into golf. They are willing to afford themselves, they are so gracious, and they make it very real.”

Participation in the pro-am is open to all (see “Play with the Pros,” at right), but it’s also possible to partake without swinging a club. If you just want to enjoy the tournament with special treatment, there are a limited number of Honorary Observer packages available. For $1,500 per day for two people, the package includes the “Inside the Ropes” walking experience with a professional group of choice; a commemorative photo with pros on the first tee; a tournament cap or visor; on-course food and beverage; and access to the VIP hospitality venue, with full breakfast, lunch, and bar for the day.

No matter how you choose to experience it, the event affords an amazing locale, plenty of fun on and off the course, and the chance to find out that your sports heroes are normal Joes, too. No wonder the MEC at Hualālai Pro-Am is one of the hottest tickets in golf.

Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualālai Pro-Am, contact Kelly Fliear, 808.870.2755; pgatour.com/mec

PLAY WITH THE PROS

Ready to birdie with the best? Anyone can play in the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualālai Pro-Am, which will be held January 15 to 16, 2019. The $8,500 package includes:

◗ Entry into the two-day, 36-hole event

◗ Play with a different PGA TourChampions player each day

◗ Invitations for two to the Pro-Am Draw/Welcome Reception at the Four Seasons Resort Hualālai

◗ Invitations for two to the Pro-Am Final Night Beach Party, also at the Four Seasons

◗ VIP hospitality credentials for two during the pro-am to Tournament Private Hospitality at Hualālai Grille

◗ Two all-week tournament admission passes

◗ Commemorative gift package

◗ Framed team photos