Larry Bohannan raises that very good question after taking a look at the field for the Mercedes Benz Championship.  Consider that the top four players in the world are not in the field - Tiger, Sergio, Phil, and Paddy.  All will collect last place prize money for their efforts.

Still, Bohannan points out the circumstances facing these players.  Three have legitimate reasons not to show.

Woods is injured, and he's been more than consistent is showing he doesn't want to play the Mercedes event in Hawaii.

Mickelson has also consistently not played in Hawaii, even when the economy was booming.

Garcia and Harrington are European stars who wouldn't be likely to travel halfway around the world to play in a tour event.

Still, Mercedes can't be happy to be sponsoring an event that is a huge inconvenience for some players. 

Also, the event is broadcast exclusively on Golf Channel, whose audience does not quite match that of ESPN and certainly not that of broadcast TV.  But, the Mercedes has been a cable-only event for years now.

There had been rumors that the Mercedes would move back to the mainland soon.  That may not be a bad move considering the difference in travel for European players.

Regardless of the drought of the top 4, there are 7 of the top 15 in the field.  Perhaps this provides an opportunity for Anthony Kim and Camilo Villegas to start an early build off of last year's successes.