Super Bowl Sunday has eased some of my withdrawal pains from not seeing the senior tour guys in action this week. This is, or was, the time slot for the Turtle Bay Championships marking the first full-field event of the season for the Champions Tour.

"That's awful. It's a sign of the times, I guess," said Dave Eichelberger, a Champions Tour veteran, in referring to the end of the senior tour event that began at Ka'anapali, Maui, 22 years ago.

Eichelberger will try to ease his withdrawal pains by playing in the 31st Hawai'i Pearl Open next week. So will local golf fans attending the Pearl Open and the University of Hawai'i-Hilo Invitational starting Tuesday at Mauna Lani Resort because both events will be showcasing some budding future stars.

Last year's Pearl Open champion, Azama Yano, who made the cut in the recent Sony Open in Hawai'i, never looked back after an opening-round 66. But he hardly drew the attention of the three dozen Japanese media who stuck around after the Sony Open. They were following every shot at every hole by Ryo Ishikawa, a 16-year-old megastar who had just become the youngest golfer in Japan to turn professional. And why not? He won the Munsingwear Open KSB Cup, a Japanese pro tour event, as a high school sophomore.

Ishikawa showed that he wasn't a fluke. He finished fifth on the 2008 Japan Golf Tour Organization money list with one victory and six top-10 finishes. And, at age 17, he's the youngest player to make the top 100 in world rankings. He's now ranked No. 63.

Unfortunately, and not surprisingly, Ishikawa has gotten a little too good for the tournaments like the Pearl Open and won't be here next week. He recently received an invitation to play in the Masters and got sponsor's exemptions to three PGA Tour events, including the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

But who knows what other future star will be born in this year's Pearl Open. Tournament director David Ishii says to keep an eye on 18-year-old Japanese pro Shunta Maeawakura, who could be the next Ryo Ishikawa.

There will be 10 teenage Japanese amateurs in this year's field, the youngest being 13-year-old Masamichi Ito, who made the cut last year. Add Hawai'i's talented teens Lorens Chan, Alex Chu, David Fink and Bradley Shigezawa in the mix, and it sounds like a "junior golf tournament," says Ishii.

No, we haven't forgotten Tadd Fujikawa, our own teen-age professional, who could make this year's Hawai'i Pearl Open as memorable as he did in 2007 when a month after his sensational showing in the Sony Open, he became the first amateur winner in 15 years. This time, Fujikawa hopes to pick up the winning paycheck now that he's a professional.

Then, there's the UH-Hilo Invitational, a brainchild of Vulcans' golf coach Earl Tamiya, who had the support of the late Dennis Rose, who was Waikoloa Resort's director of golf when the collegiate tournament began in 1991.

Tamiya thought it would be a good idea to invite the leading collegiate golf teams to start their spring season playing at a resort course under ideal conditions. It was an offer they couldn't refuse. Until this day, there's a waiting list to get in.

"We have a good field again this year," said Tamiya in his usual understated way. Four of the 17 teams in the field are ranked in the GolfWeek/Sagarin Top 10: Southern California (2), Stanford (5), Arizona State (8) and Georgia Tech (10). Also entered are three teams in the top 20 — Washington, Texas Tech and TCU.

The individual competition will include three golfers ranked in the top 10 nationally — USC's Matthew Giles, who's No. 1, teammate Jamie Lovemark and Georgia Tech's Cameron Tringate, who won the individual title three years ago. Arizona State's Jesper Kennegard is back to defend the individual title, while Stanford tries to retain its team championship.

And talk about the UH-Hilo Invitational showcasing future stars. Anthony Kim, one of the PGA Tour's talented young guns who had a breakout year in 2008, won the individual trophy five years ago as a member of the Oklahoma Sooners. Other previous winners include Stanford's Notah Begay III, who just regained his PGA card in Q-School; Matt Kuchar and Bryce Molder, Georgia Tech teammates now on the PGA Tour, and former PGA member Todd Dempsey.

Oh, and a young Stanford freshman golfer named Tiger Woods played at Waikoloa Kings in 1995, but lost individual honors in a playoff to Arizona State's Chris Hanell.