It's hard to get back to opener

KAPALUA, Hawaii - The high turnover at the winners-only Mercedes Championships is one example that ability on the PGA Tour is separated by a fine line.

Only 11 of the 31 players from last year were eligible to return to Kapalua. And because three guys didn't show, only eight of those players teed it up for the second consecutive year.

Perhaps another way to illustrate the depth of talent is the margin of victory: Runaways are rare.

"To separate yourself from a bunch of other very, very good players - more than likely playing some really good golf - is going to be very difficult," Stuart Appleby said. "What Tiger did at Pebble Beach a few years back was unheard of."

Woods owns the record for largest margin of victory at a major, winning by 15 shots in the 2000 U.S. Open.

Kapalua has had two runaways during its seven years hosting the Mercedes Championships. David Duval won by nine shots in 1999 during his rapid rise to No. 1 in the world (the next time he played, he shot 59 in the final round of the Bob Hope Classic), and Ernie Els won by eight shots in 2003 when he set a PGA Tour record at 31 under par.

The other five events at Kapalua were decided by one shot, or in a playoff.

Last year on the PGA Tour, 36 of 47 tournaments were decided by two shots or fewer, with 11 of those a playoff. The largest margin belonged to Kenny Perry at the Colonial, where he shot 63-64 in the middle of the tournament and won by seven. Bart Bryant won by six shots in his wire-to-wire victory at the Tour Championship.