As is tradition, the new year on the PGA Tour begins with an exceptional and world-class event: the Sentry Tournament of Champions. One of the most anticipated tournaments of the year, not only because of the splendid location of Maui, in Hawaii, but above all because those who have won at least one tournament on the American circuit in the previous year participate.
Starting this year, the tournament will also feature players who, despite not having won a tournament, finished the previous FedEx Cup in the top thirty.
The PGA Tour, schedule
What emerges is obviously a field of absolute exception, from the heavenly level.
In fact, there will be eight of the top ten players in the world rankings, nine of the top ten in the FedEx Cup rankings, and four previous winners of the season’s competition. The only player who would have been eligible to participate who won’t be there will be No.
1 Rory McIlroy, who has now gotten used to missing this tournament. Here are the 37 entrants: Ryan Brehm (USA), JT Poston (USA), Sam Burns (USA), Seamus Power (IRL), Patrick Cantlay (USA), Jon Rahm (ESP), Corey Conners (CAN), Chad Ramey (USA), Tony Finau (USA), Chez Reavie (USA), Matt Fitzpatrick (ENG), Xander Schauffele (USA). ), Brian Harman (USA), Scottie Scheffler (USA), Russell Henley (USA), Adam Scott (Australia), Tom Hoge (USA), JJ
Spaun (USA), Max Homa (USA), Jordan Spieth (USA), Billy Horschel (USA), Scott Stallings (USA), Viktor Hovland (NOR), Sepp Straka (AUT), Mackenzie Hughes (CAN), Adam Svensson ( CAN), Sungjae Im (KOR), Sahith Theegala (USA), Tom Kim (KOR), Justin Thomas (USA), KH
Lee (KOR), Aaron Wise (USA), Luke List (USA), Cameron Young (USA), Hideki Matsuyama (JAP), Will Zalatoris (USA), Collin Morikawa ( USA). Difficult to identify a favourite, partly because they are all potential candidates for success, partly because the hiatus was quite long and it is not easy to predict how different athletes may respond in terms of performance.
Justin Thomas has already won this tournament twice, while Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele are the only other former winners on the list. They, along with probably Scottie Scheffler, Patrick Cantlay, Seamus Power and Jon Rahm, will be the men to beat.
The Kapalua Plantation Course is a par 73, 7,596-yard course. The setting for this tournament is absolutely one of a kind: in addition to being one of the most beautiful and evocative courses of the entire season, it is also the only par 73 course on the entire PGA Tour.
There are only three par 3 holes on the entire course, with just one on the back nine. Last year the Australian Cameron Smith won in a historic edition. Suffice it to say that the three best 72-hole scores in PGA Tour history were scored at that tournament. Smith won at -34, while -33 and -32 respectively were not enough for Jon Rahm and Matt Jones to win the match.
