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By PGATOUR.com staff

The inaugural PGA TOUR FedExCup season kicks off next week at the Mercedes-Benz Championship in Hawaii where three-time defending champion Stuart Appleby headlines an elite field composed of 34 players who won TOUR events in 2006.

The winner of the Mercedes-Benz Championship will earn 4,500 points and get a head start toward the $10 million FedExCup bonus. He also receives $1.1 million from the $5.5 million purse, keys to a 2007 Mercedes-Benz GL450 SUV and a Tiffany trophy.

(Robert LeBerge, Getty Images)

Inside the Numbers

The winners of the past 10 tournaments at Kapalua

Year Winner 2006 Stuart Appleby 2005 Stuart Appleby 2004 Stuart Appleby 2003 Ernie Els 2002 Sergio Garcia 2001 Jim Furyk 2000 Tiger Woods 1999 David Duval 1998 Phil Mickelson 1997 Tiger Woods

• More past winners, click here • Tournament field, click here

Appleby is also looking to become the first player to win four straight since Tiger Woods accomplished the feat at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard in 2003.

International players now have won the last five Mercedes-Benz Championships -- joining Appleby are Ernie Els, who won in 2003, and Sergio Garcia, who captured the 2002 event. There are 13 international players entered at Kapalua this year.

Appleby added the Shell Houston Open to his expanding resume later in the year which makes the Australian one of three two-time winners in 2006. The other two-time champs playing at Kapalua are Geoff Ogilvy (World Golf Championships-Accenture Match Play Championship and U.S. Open) and Ben Curtis (Booz Allen Classic and 84 LUMBER Classic).

Thirteen players are making their Mercedes-Benz Championship debuts -- including rookies Trevor Immelman, J.B. Holmes, Eric Axley and Troy Matteson. Other first-timers are Arron Oberholser, Aaron Baddeley, Chris Couch, Brett Wetterich, J.J. Henry, John Senden, Dean Wilson, Will MacKenzie and D.J. Trahan.

In addition, Corey Pavin will be playing in the Mercedes-Benz Championship for the 11th time but this is his first appearance since the tournament moved to Kapalua.

Davis Love III will be making his 12th start in the Mercedes-Benz Championship, and his first since 2004. No one else in the field has played in more. Vijay Singh leads in consecutive starts, though, with five.

Tiger Woods, who won the British Open and the PGA Championship along with six other events in 2006, announced on Friday that he would not participate this year. Woods, who has been skiing with his family over the holidays, said he had not had time to prepare properly for the tournament.

"This marks only the third time in my career I have missed the season-opening event," Woods wrote on his website. "In 2003, I was recovering from knee surgery. Last year, I stayed home to be with my father.

"Hopefully, everyone will understand. Obviously, this was a tough decision because Gary Planos and his staff always do such a great job with the event."

Woods said he now plans to make his 2007 debut at the Buick Invitational where he is the two-time defending champion and will seek his seventh straight PGA TOUR victory.