KONA, Hawaii -- The Champions Tour begins its 30th official season this week with the Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai.

Fred Funk won the 2008 tournament by two strokes over Allen Doyle. Due to a knee injury, Funk will be unable to defend his title. Even with Funk's absence, a strong field is gathering at Hualalai Golf Course. Included in the field are 2008 Player of the Year Bernhard Langer, defending Charles Schwab Cup champion Jay Haas and Hale Irwin, the Champions Tour's all-time leading money-winner and two-time winner of this event (1997 and 2007).

When Allen Doyle finished as the runner-up to Fred Funk last year, it was his third consecutive top-10 finish in the tournament and his seventh top-10 overall in this event, tying him with Raymond Floyd, Al Geiberger and Chi Chi Rodriguez for the most in tournament history.

When he tees it up this week, Hale Irwin will be playing in his 14th consecutive Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, the best current streak among players in the field. Allen Doyle will be making his 10th straight start in the tournament.

Jay Haas, the 2007 Champions Tour Player of the Year and the 2006 and 2008 Charles Schwab Cup winner, comes into this week's tournament with a string of nine consecutive sub-70 rounds at Hualalai and has tied for third twice and tied for fifth in his three career appearances.

Among the new players making their debuts at this event are Jeff Sluman, Andy North and Bruce Vaughan. All three posted their first Champions Tour victories in 2008. Vaughan earned a berth for the next five years by winning the Senior British Open last July at Royal Troon.

A total of seven players have claimed the title at Hualalai in their first attempt. Loren Roberts (2006) was the last to do so. Others to accomplish the feat are Orville Moody (1984), Peter Thomson (1985), Dave Hill (1988), George Archer (1990), John Bland (1996) and John Jacobs (1999).

Since he is no longer an exempt player for this tournament, Bob Gilder's streak of 122 straight Champions Tour events comes to a close. However, Gilder can still continue to add to his streak of consecutive-eligible events should be play at February's Allianz Championship in Florida. Prior to missing this event, the last one he missed was the 2004 Greater Hickory Classic at Rock Barn.

This week's 34-player field includes just four former champions: Hale Irwin (1997, 2007), Gil Morgan (1998), Tom Kite (2002) and Loren Roberts (2006).

Jeff Sluman comes into this event with a streak of 25 rounds at par or better. The all-time Champions Tour record is 37 by Loren Roberts in 2006-2007, but should Sluman post three more here, he could move into third place all-time in that category. Larry Nelson had 32 in 2000. Lee Trevino (1992), Bruce Summerhays (1995), Raymond Floyd (1995) and Bruce Fleisher (2002) all had 27 straight at some point in their careers.