If the Mercedes Championship in Hawaii last weekend is an example of what it’s going to be like on the PGA Tour this year, we’d better fasten our seat belts.

As expected, iron man Vijay Singh started fast, either leading or being tied for the lead until midway the final round. Not expected was his uncharacteristic folding down the stretch as Stuart Appleby won the title for the second straight year.

Probably no one was more surprised by the collapse than Singh himself. Making triple bogey on a closing hole is not the way you win nine golf tournaments and $11 million in prize money during a season.

Just in case you hadn’t noticed, the official PGA season had been over since the Tour Championship in November. So it was good to see some “real” golf for a change, even if it was a field limited only to the winners from last season.

I have to admit that I’m eager to see more of young Jonathan Kaye.

This kid seems to have a lot of the “right stuff” to be a Tour icon. I don’t know if he’s good enough, but he has the appearance, the attitude and the personality to become a fan favorite if he can be a consistent contender.

Speaking of consistent, our old friend Lefty, aka Phil Mickelson, isn’t wasting any time getting off on the right foot. Instead of going to Hawaii and competing for that $1 million first-place check, he opted to stay home. Seems he doesn’t like the way the grass grows in Maui or something.

I hate to say this, because I had actually become a Phil fan during his great run last year, but I’ve now reached the point where I don’t really care whether he plays or not. I still haven’t gotten over his actions in the Ryder Cup.

Meanwhile, the “real” Tiger Woods seems to be on the verge of standing up. The golfer who many of us still think is the best to ever tee it up, played more like an Eldrick last year than a Tiger, but the game is back. I think.

Once he starts making a few putts, Tiger is going to win again. And once he wins again, look out, because he’ll be off to the races again. He’s 29 years old, for crying out loud. He can’t be washed up.

And besides, washed-up players aren’t out there in the hunt for titles every time they tee it up.

I almost hate to bring this up, because it’s old news and there’s no way it’s going to happen again, but I’ve had a couple of queries recently about one of the black marks in Singh’s career.

It’s kind of like baseball’s “Black Sox” scandal. No matter how many years pass, someone always brings it up and there are those who will still tell you that World Series games are fixed.

Anyway, I’m often asked just what Singh was accused of doing in the “Great Cheating” episode that continues to haunt him. So, just to set the record straight and satisfy the curiosity out there, here’s the story as it recently appeared in an article forwarded to me by my good friend John Derr.

According to the story by John Huggan in Scotland, the incident happened during the 1985 Indonesian Open when, in order to qualify for the event’s final two rounds, Singh changed a 5 to a 4 on his scorecard, was caught, disqualified and suspended.

Singh claims it never happened and said, “Why should I admit to cheating if it never happened, just so the press won’t keep bringing it up? I cannot do that. That would be dishonest in itself.”

Sports Illustrated ran an article in 1997 in which an unnamed competitor from that tournament was quoted as saying, “It wasn’t a misunderstanding.

“He was accused and suspended for altering his own card. All of us who were around are very upset that Vijay denies this.”