After 21 years away, Phil Mickelson to play Sentry Tournament of Champions, which is loaded

The PGA Tour returns to action with a star-studded field at the first event in 2022.

The PGA Tour returns to action in a big way Thursday in Hawaii with a star-studded field at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, the first event in 2022.

World No. 1 Jon Rahm will be there, as will Bryson DeChambeau, Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth and Collin Morikawa.

The event is reserved for those who won the previous year and there are 39 golfers who qualified by winning a Tour event. Xander Schauffele is in the field because of his gold-medal victory in Japan. Rory McIlroy is the lone Tour winner not in the field.

Perhaps the biggest name to enter is Phil Mickelson, who is playing for the first time since 2001 when it was called the Mercedes Championships. He qualified for the Sentry because of his win in last summer’s PGA Championship.

Mickelson won the event in 1994 and then again in 1998, which he won by a shot over Tiger Woods and Mark O’Meara. It was just one of the nine times that Woods and Mickelson finished 1-2 in a PGA Tour event.

The 1998 tournament was time it was played in Carlsbad, California. It moved to Maui in 1999 and has been there ever since. Mickelson had been eligible 13 times since 1998. He will be playing it for the ninth time overall.

“We’re absolutely thrilled to welcome Phil Mickelson back to Kapalua, as his return adds additional star power to an incredibly deep and talented field,” executive director Alex Urban said in a statement.

Also committed to tournament: Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama, Tony Finau, Harris English and Patrick Reed. There are 10 first-time winners that have qualified for 2022.

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