HONOLULU (AP) -- Steve Stricker started and finished the 2008 season as a runner-up -- in a playoff at the season-opening Mercedes-Benz Championship at Kapalua, and by one shot at the Chevron World Challenge.

One difference -- besides the climate -- was the golf ball he played.

While some players have been testing the new Titleist ball, Stricker used the Pro V1 Plus at Sherwood Country Club. He couldn't draw too many conclusions given the cool, wet conditions.

"It may be a touch firmer," he said. "It feels like I hit it a little flatter off the tee, which is good. But it didn't seem a whole lot different. My distances were still similar."

It was not known how many players will use the Pro V1 Plus at the Mercedes-Benz Championship at Kapalua, and how many will stick with the prior generation of Pro V1, which Titleist says has specifications that fall outside any claims of the patents involved in a contentious lawsuit with Callaway Golf.

LONG ROAD: Six players who had to qualify for the first of three stages of PGA Tour qualifying reached the finals, and while none earned their PGA Tour cards, it was an impressive feat.

Martin Piller closed with a 68 to tie for 40th, while Joseph Sykora shot 66 on the TPC Stadium Course to tie for 70th. That gives them full status for the Nationwide Tour next year, improving their odds of getting to the PGA Tour.

The top 25 on the Nationwide money list graduate to the big leagues.

SMALL WORLD: John Wood, the caddie for Hunter Mahan, interrupted his vacation to work the LPGA Tour qualifying tournament for Kim Welch, a good friend from Sacramento, Calif.

Welch played the first two rounds with Leah Wigger, who kept looking at Welch's caddie because he looked familiar. Turns out Wigger is from Louisville, and she was working at the Ryder Cup getting advance yardage for NBC Sports analyst Dottie Pepper. She had Mahan's group in one of the matches.

Wigger missed full-exempt status by one shot, while Welch tied for 49th to receive conditional status.

DIVOTS: Delta Air Lines plans to add more than 7,000 seats for travel between Augusta, Ga., and its Atlanta hub during the week of the Masters, as well as daily service between Augusta and LaGuardia Airport and peak-day service to JFK. The expanded service will be flown on a mix of Boeing 757 and CRJ900 aircraft.

STAT OF THE WEEK: The top 10 players on the PGA Tour's career money list have combined for over $410 million in earnings.

FINAL WORD: "I'd much rather have two majors than one." -- Tiger Woods, on why he voted for Padraig Harrington as PGA Tour player of the year.

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