Tag: 2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions

2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions Friday tee times, TV info

From tee times to TV info, here’s everything you need to know for the second round of the PGA Tour’s Sentry Tournament of Champions.

The PGA Tour is back in action this week and kicks off the 2021 calendar year in paradise.

A 42-player field loaded with winners tees it up on Friday at Kapalua’s Plantation Course for the second round of the 2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions. Harris English and defending champion Justin Thomas are tied atop the leaderboard at 8 under after opening-round 65s. Six players are tied for third at 6 under, two shots back: Robert Streb, Sergio Garcia, Nick Taylor, Ryan Palmer, Sungjae Im and Patrick Reed.

Check out the tee times and TV info for Friday’s round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions. All times are listed in Eastern Standard Time.

Sentry Tournament of Champions: Leaderboard | Photos

Tee times

Tee time Players
2:20 p.m. Tony Finau, Sebastián Muñoz
2:30 p.m. Hideki Matsuyama, Mackenzie Hughes
2:40 p.m.
Michael Thompson, Hudson Swafford
2:50 p.m. Dustin Johnson, Lanto Griffin
3 p.m. Kevin Na, Cameron Champ
3:10 p.m. Billy Horschel, Jason Kokrak
3:20 p.m. Stewart Cink, Jon Rahm
3:30 p.m. Webb Simpson, Scottie Scheffler
3:40 p.m. Cameron Smith, Abraham Ancer
3:50 p.m. Kevin Kisner, Andrew Landry
4 p.m. Brian Gay, Xander Schauffele
4:10 p.m. Daniel Berger, Collin Morikawa
4:20 p.m. Viktor Hovland, Bryson DeChambeau
4:30 p.m. Marc Leishman, Joaquin Niemann
4:40 p.m. Carlos Ortiz, Richy Werenski
4:50 p.m. Martin Laird, Brendon Todd
5 p.m. Adam Scott, Patrick Cantlay
5:10 p.m. Patrick Reed, Sungjae Im
5:20 p.m. Ryan Palmer, Nick Taylor
5:30 p.m. Sergio Garcia, Robert Streb
5:40 p.m. Justin Thomas, Harris English

TV, streaming info

Friday Jan. 8

TV

Golf Channel on fuboTV (watch for free): 6-10 p.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 5-10:30 p.m.

Saturday Jan. 9

TV

Golf Channel on fuboTV (watch for free): 6-10 p.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 5-10:30 p.m.

Sunday Jan. 10

TV

NBC: 4-6 p.m.
Golf Channel on fuboTV (watch for free): 6-8 p.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 5-10 p.m.

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Sergio Garcia returns to Kapalua for first time in 15 years, says ‘Aloha’ to a 67

Sergio Garcia returned to Kapalua for the first time in 15 years and the former champion picked up where he left off by shooting 67.

It had been 15 years since Sergio Garcia last played the Plantation Course at Kapalua, home of the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Garcia, the 2002 tournament winner, didn’t skip a beat, saying “Aloha” to a 6-under 67 and a share of the first-round lead in Hawaii.

“It’s great to be back,” Garcia said. “I’ve obviously had the possibility of coming way before this year, but being in Europe it’s a very long way away to come for maybe one or two weeks.”

Garcia, who qualified for the tournament by winning the Sanderson Farms Championship in October, had skipped the winners-only gathering in previous years because he traditionally spends Christmas in his native Spain and estimated it is a 22-hour trip to Maui from there. But this year, due to COVID-19, he was unable to travel to Europe and arrived at Kapalua early from his home in Texas.

“This year, it was a little bit easier because we were in Austin because of everything that’s going on in the world and it made it a lot easier for me and the family to be here and just have a nice couple of weeks,” he explained.

Sentry Tournament of Champions: Leaderboard | Photos

Garcia’s round began inauspiciously with a three-putt bogey at the first and was 2-over par through three holes. But he turned his day around with a chip-in eagle from the hazard fronting the fifth green and then was off to the races.

“It was a great shot that obviously had a little bit of luck involved because I was going through a couple of those weeds with my club,” Garcia said of the chip-in from 53 feet away.

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Garcia, who turns 41 on Saturday, tacked on six more birdies over his final 13 holes, tying Robert Streb, Nick Taylor and Ryan Palmer with opening-round 67’s. It was good enough for the second-lowest score of the day, trailing only Harris English, who was 7-under through 16 holes.

It’s been nearly 20 years since Garcia won here in his tournament debut and the memories of that triumph came flooding back, especially when he was shown some clips from that special week, including the winning putt in a playoff.

“I looked really young, which was nice,” he said with a laugh. “Made a clutch putt on 18 to give myself a shot at being in the playoff with David Toms and then the putt I made.”

If Garcia continues his torrid pace on Thursday over the next three days, he could be booking his return trip a lot sooner than another 15 years.

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Sentry Tournament of Champions field by the rankings

Not surprisingly, a strong field has turned up for the Sentry Tournament of Champions to start 2021 on the PGA Tour.

The calendar has turned and the PGA Tour is back. The wraparound 2020-21 season begins, as usual, in Hawaii at Kapalua’s Plantation Course. What is usually a winners-only event was expanded this year to include players who qualified for last fall’s Tour Championship. A field of 42 men is the largest in tournament history.

What’s not surprising this week is the strength of the field. World No. 1 Dustin Johnson will start his year at Kapalua and so will eight of the other top 10 players in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings. Only No. 4 Rory McIlroy is missing.

In the 12 tournaments played so far in the 2020-21 Tour season, the average ranking of the winner heading into the week in which he won a PGA Tour event has been 148 in the Golfweek/Sagarins and 169.75 in the OWGR.

Sentry TOC: Tee times, TV | Photos | Fantasy

Player GW/Sags OWGR
 Dustin Johnson 1 1
 Jon Rahm 2 2
 Xander Schauffele 3 6
 Justin Thomas 5 3
 Daniel Berger 6 13
 Webb Simpson 7 8
 Harris English 8 29
 Bryson DeChambeau 9 5
 Patrick Cantlay 10 9
 Abraham Ancer 12 23
 Tony Finau 13 20
 Patrick Reed 15 11
 Viktor Hovland 16 14
 Hideki Matsuyama 18 19
 Adam Scott 20 21
 Collin Morikawa 22 7
 Sungjae Im 27 18
 Billy Horschel 28 42
 Joaquin Niemann 29 45
 Scottie Scheffler 31 32
 Ryan Palmer 32 30
 Kevin Na 36 37
 Cameron Smith 37 27
 Kevin Kisner 39 26
 Sergio Garcia 41 46
 Brendon Todd 42 47
 Mackenzie Hughes 50 49
 Stewart Cink 68 138
 Lanto Griffin 78 63
 Cameron Champ 83 72
 Sebastián Muñoz 89 61
 Jason Kokrak 98 25
 Carlos Ortiz 99 60
 Richy Werenski 115 150
 Andrew Landry 128 104
 Martin Laird 133 85
 Michael Thompson 143 108
 Marc Leishman 169 28
 Nick Taylor 185 136
 Hudson Swafford 300 198
 Robert Streb 333 113
 Brian Gay 408 202

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Adam Scott returns to Kapalua for surf and to ride a wave of momentum all the way to Augusta

Adam Scott hasn’t played the Tournament of Champions since 2014 and says, “I regretted missing it.”

The surf lover in Adam Scott took one look at the waves on Tuesday at Kapalua, Hawaii, and decided it might be a good idea to move up the time for his pre-tournament press conference ahead of the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

“Some waves coming this afternoon, so I might go for a quick paddle before the day’s up,” he said. “Good preparation, I think.”

Scott was riding a wave of momentum last year when he won the Australian PGA Championship in December and Genesis Invitational in February in consecutive starts and improved to No. 6 in the Official World Golf Ranking. It was his hottest stretch of golf since 2016 for the former World No. 1 and had him believing that a second major title was within reach for the 2013 Masters champion. But soon after the Tour suspended its season in March due to the global pandemic and whatever momentum he was riding before COVID-19 was lost.

“I think that last season wasn’t really a season for me,” he said.

Sentry Tournament of Champions
Adam Scott plays a practice round ahead of the 2020 Sentry Tournament of Champions at the Kapalua Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii. Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

On the bright side, Scott spent three glorious months at home in his native Queensland, Australia, with his family, celebrated his 40th birthday in July, took an abundance of caution after the return of golf and still managed to test positive for COVID-19 shortly before the Masters, which spoiled his preparation. He did little more than make the cut in the three majors contested in August, September and November.

“I played okay at the end of last year, but not up to what, the standard I want to play if I’m out here doing it,” he said.

Scott’s victory at Riviera punched his ticket back to Kapalua, where he finished runner-up in 2004, for the first time since 2014. Sometimes, it was a personal choice but Scott’s 14th career Tour victory last season ended a nearly four-year winless drought.

“It was definitely a priority for me to put this event on the schedule. It’s a great way to start the year,” Scott said. “It was a tricky one to get back to and every time I missed it, I regretted it, but it was off the back of playing in Australia and it being the first week of the year made it a very short holiday season for me.”

Sentry Tournament of Champions: Tee times | Fantasy rankings | Odds

Added Scott, who has slipped to No. 21 in the world: “For me, at this moment, I need to kind of start putting some good results on the board and get my FedEx Cup campaign going a bit.”

While the calendar just flipped to a new year, this week’s Tour stop marks the 13th event of the 2020-21 wrap-around season and Scott already has eyes on the Players in March and Masters in April.

Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods, three of the players that he battled against in his salad days all won majors in their 40s and Scott would like to do the same.

“My time is becoming less and less, that’s for sure, all these good young players, so I would like to contend a little more and win a little more before my time’s up,” he said.

Fellow Australian Luke Elvy, who commentates for CBS Sports among others, compared Scott to a Rolls Royce needing a minor tune-up to return to his pre-COVID form.

“He’s just a filter change from being back where he was,” Elvy said, “and if the putts drop, as he said, ‘I just need to putt averagely, I’ll be fine.’ ”

Indeed, Scott’s ballstriking always has been the envy of his peers while his putter tends to run a bit hot and cold. Scott, who primarily used an unanchored broomstick putter last year, said he’s been toying around with an arm-lock putter of late.

“I putted like that a couple years ago,” he said. “It’s just kind of what I like on this type of green here this week and, quite grainy, quite slow, a lot of slope, and can be a lot of wind around as well and the long one, I feel like I’ve battled with a little bit out there in the past.”

It’s given Scott renewed confidence that he can still achieve his goal of becoming a multiple major champion before his time runs out.

“I feel like the work I’ve done recently is really good,” he said, “so, I’m eager to see it kind of get a result for me the next few weeks on Tour and start moving in the right direction before the big stuff in the spring.”

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Xander Schauffele got to Sentry Tournament of Champions because of COVID-19; then he got it

Xander Schauffele got into the Sentry Tournament of Champions because of COVID-19. Then he got the virus.

Seven days before Christmas, Xander Schauffele got the worst present ever.

He tested positive for COVID-19.

“It’s a bit scary just because there’s so much unknown facts about the whole COVID process,” Schauffele said Tuesday at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. “Just happy to be here and slowly getting my strength back.”

Schauffele isn’t at full strength and his form isn’t at its best because of the lack of preparation due to COVID-19. But he loves the Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii, and can call up good vibes as he won here in 2019 and lost in a three-man playoff last year. Plus, he toppled COVID-19 and is in the Aloha State playing again.

Schauffele was at a Callaway photo shoot in the San Diego area on the 16th with Phil Mickelson and Jon Rahm when he received a text from his girlfriend that said she had tested positive for COVID-19.

“It was a bit of a scare at the photo shoot for everyone,” he said.

Sentry Tournament of Champions: Tee times | Fantasy rankings | Odds

Schauffele then self-quarantined in a hotel for two days but then woke up “sick as a dog and dragged myself to the clinic, tested positive,” and started a 10-day quarantine at his condo, he said.

The world No. 6 was with his girlfriend and two dogs. Mostly he was fatigued so the man who basically lives day-by-day started living hour-by-hour.

“The first four days were very much on the couch and in bed,” he said. “I live in a 2,000 square-foot condo, so it’s not like we have a whole lot of space to sort of stretch out or run around. But the first four days were bad.

“A lot of Call of Duty. Watched some Hulu movies, started watching Fargo.”

His brother, who lives just six miles from Schauffele, would drop off food and water and take the dogs for walks. Still, as Schauffele slowly healed, he got antsy.

“Those last three days were really hard for me, because I just wanted to go out and golf and kind of get ready,” he said.

His quarantine ended in the 29th and he played his first golf on the first day of the new year. He has played nine holes each of his first two days in the 50th state.

“Minimal golf for me for the most part, which sucks, but it’s nice to be playing again,” he said.

Xander Schauffele Patrick Cantlay Sentry Tournament of Champions
Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay during a practice round prior to the Sentry Tournament Of Champions on the Plantation Course at Kapalua Golf Club on January 04, 2021 in Kapalua, Hawaii. (Photo: Cliff Hawkins/Getty Images)

While he’s done with quarantining, Schauffele still is in a bit of a quandary on the island of Maui. While he had a solid 2020 – 18 top-25s in 20 starts, including six top-5s, three of which were runner-up finishes – he didn’t win. And the tournament is called the Tournament of Champions, after all.

But because of the COVID-19 global pandemic, which silenced the PGA Tour for 13 weeks, players who made it to East Lake in Atlanta for The Tour Championship, the FedEx Cup playoffs finale, became eligible for this year’s Tournament of Champions. The 42 players in the field marks the largest in tournament history.

“Officially, yes, it is very strange,” Schauffele said. “I joked, I got COVID and the reason I am here is because of COVID, so there’s always a couple ways to look at it. But, yes, it is very strange to play in a Tournament of Champions without an official win.”

Tempering the strangeness a bit is that while he didn’t get the official win, Schauffele did shoot the lowest total in the Tour Championship but finished second to Dustin Johnson due to the staggered scoring format.

And getting over COVID-19 is a victory.

Schauffele hopes his strength continues to return by the day and along with it some good form. He said while he “always plays well here,” he might have to rely more on his recall of the tournament than normally he would.

“I’m going to have to fall back on good memories,” he said. “I tried to walk up a few holes today just as a test. Definitely not in great shape, in all honesty. I took like three weeks off and then started golfing for like four or five days and then got COVID and had to quarantine for 10 days.

“So kind of in a weird place physically, I should say. But mentally, I can fake it until I make it.”

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2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions Thursday tee times, TV info

From tee times to TV info, here’s everything you need to know for the first round of the PGA Tour’s Sentry Tournament of Champions.

The PGA Tour is back in action this week and kicks off the 2021 calendar year in paradise.

A 42-player field loaded with winners tees it up on Thursday at Kapalua’s Plantation Course for the first round of the 2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions. Marquee pairings to watch include world Nos. 1 and 3 Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas, Callaway young guns Jon Rahm and Xander Schauffele, as well as Brendon Todd/Bryson DeChambeau and Abraham Ancer/Viktor Hovland.

Check out the tee times and TV info for the opening round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions. All times are listed in Eastern Standard Time.

Sentry Tournament of Champions: Fantasy rankings | Best bets

Tee times

Tee time Players
2:10 p.m. Martin Laird, Hudson Swafford
2:20 p.m. Stewart Cink, Robert Streb
2:30 p.m.
Brian Gay, Sergio Garcia
2:40 p.m. Michael Thompson, Andrew Landry
2:50 p.m. Nick Taylor, Carlos Ortiz
3 p.m. Adam Scott, Jason Kokrak
3:10 p.m. Patrick Cantlay, Richy Werenski
3:20 p.m. Marc Leishman, Billy Horschel
3:30 p.m. Kevin Na, Joaquin Niemann
3:40 p.m. Ryan Palmer, Cameron Champ
3:50 p.m. Kevin Kisner, Cameron Smith
4 p.m. Brendon Todd, Bryson DeChambeau
4:10 p.m. Abraham Ancer, Viktor Hovland
4:20 p.m. Tony Finau, Lanto Griffin
4:30 p.m. Hideki Matsuyama, Daniel Berger
4:40 p.m. Harris English, Mackenzie Hughes
4:50 p.m. Webb Simpson, Sungjae Im
5 p.m. Patrick Reed, Sebastián Muñoz
5:10 p.m. Scottie Scheffler, Collin Morikawa
5:20 p.m. Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele
5:30 p.m. Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas

TV, streaming info

Thursday Jan. 7

TV

Golf Channel on fuboTV (watch for free): 7-10:30 p.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 5-10:30 p.m.

Friday Jan. 8

TV

Golf Channel on fuboTV (watch for free): 7-10:30 p.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 5-10:30 p.m.

Saturday Jan. 9

TV

Golf Channel on fuboTV (watch for free): 7-10:30 p.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 5-10:30 p.m.

Sunday Jan. 10

TV

Golf Channel on fuboTV (watch for free): 6-10:30 p.m.

RADIO

PGA Tour Radio on SiriusXM: 5-10 p.m.

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Stewart Cink is always looking for an edge. It got him back to the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

Stewart Cink has always looked for an edge in his PGA Tour career. Statistics and a new caddie seem to be working in his favor.

There’s something to be said for seeing life through the eyes of your children. That will figure heavily into Stewart Cink’s livelihood this year as son Reagan Cink, a recent Georgia Tech graduate, continues to caddie for dad after their father-son partnership produced undeniable results last fall to the tune of a Safeway Open win and two other top-12 finishes.

That Cink, 47, is starting his year at Kapalua’s Plantation Course on Maui is a good indication of his resurgent PGA Tour career. He hasn’t played the winners-only event that traditionally starts the new year since 2010, when he appeared at Kapalua as the reigning British Open champion.

“It feels like a reward and you’re reminded of it constantly as soon as you look out there and see whales and look over to Molokai and it just feels a lot different,” Cink said of the setting.

Put another way, two renovations to the Plantation Course have taken place since Cink last competed here. But if it looks different to Cink, it looks brand new to his caddie. Reagan has walked many a Tour course, but “he’s never seen them from a strategy and playability type of a standpoint,” noted his dad.

Stewart Cink talks with his caddie and son Reagan on the 13th hole during the Safeway Open at Silverado Resort on September 12, 2020. (Photo by Sean M. Haffey/Getty Images)

Cink, a 24-year Tour veteran, had all but stopped playing practice rounds, but he’ll build them back in so that Reagan can get the lay of the land. He’ll build in additional rest, too, to offset more time on the course early in the week.

It speaks to Cink’s age and experience that he even has a son old enough to caddie for him on Tour. There aren’t many other men in player dining with whom he can share that experience, but there’s always been a comfort in being on the road with family.

Now that his children are grown and with his wife Lisa often traveling with him, it’s really only the family dogs who are left behind. Asked to name his best Christmas gift, Cink went straight to the Furbo, an automatic dog feeder outfitted with a camera. The machine catapults treats through the air, something the dogs caught on to quickly.

“When the dogs get close to it, they send your phone a notification and you can kind of see the video and you can talk to them,” he said. “So that’s been fun because missing the dogs, being away from home, that’s part of the tough part of traveling.”

Cink is looking around as much as he ever has in his career. When he started out as a pro, Cink said he’d zero in on Curtis Strange, Paul Azinger and Tom Lehman, sitting with them at lunch to try to figure out what made them established champions.

To start this week at Kapalua, he played a practice round with Sungjae Im, who, at 22, is almost exactly one year younger than Cink’s youngest son. Cink and Im actually live in the same neighborhood in Atlanta, Im having just bought a house there. Still, it’s the first time they’ve played together.

There’s not much insight Im can give a guy like Cink in terms of how you make this life-on-the-road thing work, as Cink noted, but there’s certainly something there when it comes to ball striking.

“It really is like he’s not a human being when he hits the ball, he’s just so consistent and his strike is so pure every time and he’s just, he’s a master at ball striking,” Cink said. “So, but now the tables are turned where I don’t look for older guys, I’m now kind of like looking at the younger players and I’m just constantly trying to learn something from either age group.”

Past the kind of old-fashioned fact-finding Cink employed at the beginning of his career, the Tour’s strokes-gained statistic also has helped a guy like Cink figure out how to remain competitive late into his career. For Cink, it has debunked a theory he’s often heard that all the best players are attacking every flag. It helps him see where he might be losing strokes to like players.

“There’s a lot of noise too,” he said, “but you find out what’s relevant to you and you can really make a big change in the way you play and your decision making and it can add up to a few shots lower every week and that can be a really big deal.”

The formula may have changed over the years, most recently with the addition of his son on the bag, but Cink’s current one seems to be working just fine.

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Fantasy golf power rankings for the 2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions

Feeling lucky? Check out our fantasy golf power rankings for the PGA Tour’s 2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions.

The Sentry Tournament of Champions kicks off the 2021 portion of the PGA Tour schedule. An elite 42-player field is at the Plantation Course at Kapalua in Hawaii. Below, we look at the fantasy golf power rankings for the top 30 golfers at the 2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions.

Odds provided by BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Odds last updated Monday at 9:09 p.m. ET.

Fantasy power rankings

30. Lanto Griffin (+8000)

Returns for his second Tournament of Champions despite not winning in 2020, as he advanced to the Tour Championship in the FedEx Cup Playoffs. He finished alone in 13th in his 2020 debut despite an uncharacteristically awful putting performance with 0.48 strokes lost per round with the flat stick.

29. Cameron Champ (+5000)

Makes a third straight appearance with 1.31 total strokes gained per round, according to Data Golf. He averaged 0.84 Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee last year, but his distance advantage was largely negated at the unusually long 7,596-yard, par-73 venue.

28. Martin Laird (+15000)

Returned to the winner’s circle in 2020 with a playoff victory at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. He has gained 1.83 strokes per round on the field over 12 career rounds played at the Plantation Course, with a runner-up finish in 2012 highlighting his three appearances.

27. Kevin Na (+10000)

A four-time PGA Tour champ, Na has surprisingly played this event just twice. He has lost 0.84 strokes per round but his short game should be better suited to the course. His 2020 campaign ended with a T-13 finish at the Masters.

26. Jason Kokrak (+8000)

Won The CJ Cup against a similarly-elite and slightly larger field. Will look to lean on the same hot putter that led to his success at Shadow Creek Golf Course.

25. Brendon Todd (+10000)

Went without a win in 2020 after victories in back-to-back events he played in the fall of 2019, but he still made it to the Tour Championship. Finished just 29th last January at plus-2 and will need a much better performance with the putter.

24. Mackenzie Hughes (+12500)

Back at Kapalua for just the second time as a PGA Tour pro. His short game was his greatest strength in a 2020 campaign featuring seven top-10 finishes in 22 events.

23. Sebastian Munoz (+8000)

An inconsistent putter, Munoz gained 1.11 strokes per round on these greens last year en route to a T-17 finish. His 2020 schedule ended with back-to-back missed cuts at the RSM Classic and Mayakoba Golf Classic.

22. Harris English (+3300)

Had one of the best falls of anyone without a win in 2020. He was the runner-up at The Northern Trust in late August and then had four top-10 finishes in his final six events on the year. He finished 11th in 2014 in his only appearance here to date.

21. Viktor Hovland (+2000)

If only Hovland’s 2021 debut was at any other course. One of the top rising stars in golf, his 2020 schedule finished with a win at the Mayakoba Golf Classic and a T-3 in Dubai the following week. Still, putting and play around the greens are too important here to have high expectations for Hovland in his debut at the Tournament of Champions.

Place your legal, online 2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions bets in CO, IA, IN, NJ, PA, TN and WV at BetMGM. Risk-free first bet! Terms and conditions apply.

20. Marc Leishman (+8000)

Finished 7th and 4th in his last two appearances here in 2018 and 2019, respectively. He won his fifth PGA Tour title at last January’s Farmers Insurance Open, but he had just one other top-10 finish in 18 other events.

19. Abraham Ancer (+4000)

One of five making his debut at the Plantation Course this year. His 2020 campaign was highlighted by two runner-up finishes with just one missed cut in 21 events.

18. Joaquin Niemann (+4000)

Finished fifth in his debut at this event last year. He didn’t lean too heavily on any one area of his game with 0.87 SG: Putting and 0.86 SG: Tee-to-Green per round.

17. Kevin Kisner (+6600)

Makes his fourth appearance at the TOC with an average of 1.02 strokes gained per round across 12 rounds played with a top finish of 9th in 2016. Typically a strong putter, he lost 0.36 strokes putting in a T-14 finish last year.

16. Adam Scott (+5000)

Returns to Kapalua for the first time since a sixth-place finish in 2014 after getting his 14th career PGA Tour title at February’s Genesis Invitational. He’s tied for second in this field with 24 rounds played here and has averaged 1.68 strokes gained per round.

15. Scottie Scheffler (+3300)

The 2019-20 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year was red-hot last summer before a positive test for COVID-19 forced him to withdraw from the US Open and partially derailed his season.

14. Tony Finau (+2500)

There would be some irony in Finau winning the Tournament of Champions. He hasn’t won on Tour since a 2016 victory in the alternate-field Puerto Rico Open. Perhaps the curse is lifted; however, after Hovland’s victory at the Mayakoba Golf Classic. On his own merit, Finau is an expert iron player who showed major strides with his wedges and putter last year.

13. Sungjae Im (+3300)

Debuts here after getting his first win at last year’s Honda Classic. He followed it up with a third-place finish at the Arnold Palmer Invitational before the season was suspended but had just one other top-10 result before a T-2 at the Masters. He’ll need to be sharper around the greens after losing 0.35 strokes per round with his short game in the fall portion of the 2020-21 season.

12. Cameron Smith (+4000)

Our final member of the strong Australian contingent at the Tournament of Champions, Smith got his first solo PGA Tour win at last year’s Sony Open in Hawaii. The rest of his 2020 campaign had been rather disappointing up until a T-2 finish at Augusta National. He gained 1.01 strokes per round with the putter across 16 measured rounds in the fall portion of the schedule.

11. Daniel Berger (+3000)

Another name making a long-awaited return to the Plantation Course after getting a win in 2020. Berger has gained 1.20 strokes per round on the field here across eight rounds and his strong approach game and putter should have him in contention.

10. Bryson DeChambeau (+1000)

As mentioned above, the excess length of Kapalua negates the advantages of a lot of the longest hitters to play here. While DeChambeau’s PGA Tour-best 337.8 average yards of driving distance helped him to victory in the US Open, he’ll need to rely much more heavily on a less jaw-dropping short game.

9. Collin Morikawa (+2800)

Became a routine betting favorite last year with victory at the PGA Championship, but he comes into the first event of 2021 with just the 12th-best odds to win. His putter really struggled following the breakthrough major win, but his iron play remained sharp.

8. Webb Simpson (+1800)

Won twice in 2020 with two third-place results and four other top 10s in 17 events on the year. He has averaged 2.09 strokes gained per round here over 15 career rounds with two third-place finishes.

7. Hideki Matsuyama (+1800)

Second in this field with 2.51 strokes gained per round at the Plantation Course. He returns for the first time since 2018 with a runner-up and finishes of 3rd and 4th.

6. Jon Rahm (+750)

Finished inside the top 10 each of the last three years here, including a runner-up finish in 2018. He comes into this year’s tournament at No. 2 in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings after winning twice upon the Tour’s 2020 restart.

5. Patrick Reed (+1600)

Won here in 2015 and has two runner-up finishes in four appearances since. He has averaged 1.72 strokes gained per round over 24 rounds played. He relied perhaps a bit too heavily on his 2.33 SG: Putting per round last year, but he also gained 0.70 strokes per round around the greens.

4. Patrick Cantlay (+1800)

Finished alone in fourth last year with a field-best 1.64 SG: Approach. He also found success on these greens in a better-than-usual putting performance with 1.19 SG: Putting for the tournament.

3. Xander Schauffele (+1000)

Followed up his 2019 win at Kapalua with a playoff loss to Justin Thomas last year. He lost 0.18 strokes per round with the putter but led the field in SG: Around-the-Green, SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Tee-to-Green.

2. Justin Thomas (+700)

Won here for the second time in his career to start the 2020 calendar year. The No. 5 player in the Golfweek rankings, Thomas got his second victory of 2020 in a similar field at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

1. Dustin Johnson (+600)

Johnson’s odds aren’t worth the risk as the tournament betting favorite, but the No. 1 player in the Golfweek rankings is a strong choice in any fantasy lineup. Like Thomas, he’s a two-time winner here, most recently doing so by eight strokes over Rahm in 2018.

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Jon Rahm signs with Callaway, TravisMathew

The No. 2 ranked golfer in the world, Jon Rahm, is making an equipment change to Callaway that will start this week at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

The No. 2 ranked golfer in the world, Jon Rahm, is making an equipment change to Callaway that will start this week at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions odds, predictions and PGA Tour best bets

We look at the 2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions betting odds, and make our PGA Tour picks and predictions to win.

The PGA Tour and golf betting return this week with the Sentry Tournament of Champions at the Plantation Course at Kapalua in Hawaii. This year’s star-studded tournament features an expanded, but still limited field of 42 to kick-off the 2021 golf schedule. Below, we look at the 2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions betting odds, and make our PGA Tour picks and predictions to win.

2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions betting picks – Favorite

Odds provided by BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Monday at 10:30 a.m. ET.

Xander Schauffele (+1000)

Schauffele heads into the first tournament of 2021 at No. 3 in the Golfweek/Sagarin world rankings. He trails only tournament betting favorite Dustin Johnson (+600) and Jon Rahm (+750), but he’s fifth by the odds to win this week.

The 27-year-old won here in his second appearance in 2019, and he lost in a playoff to Justin Thomas last year. He leads the entire field with an average of 2.59 strokes gained per round at Kapalua, according to Data Golf. He led last year’s field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green, SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Around-the-Green.

Schauffele finished 2020 in better form than anyone other than Johnson with 3.14 strokes gained per round on the average Tour pro over his final 20 rounds of the year. He also gained 1.16 strokes putting over his last 12 measured rounds and knows these greens very well.

He’s a value at +1000 with four golfers having equal or lower odds.

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2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions betting picks – Contender

Daniel Berger (+3000)

Berger finished 14th in this event in 2017 and 11th in 2018 but hasn’t played here since. He re-emerged in 2020 after lengthy injury troubles and has risen back to No. 6 in the Golfweek/Sagarin rankings. He won the Charles Schwab Challenge upon the Tour’s restart in mid-June and had six other top-10 finishes on the calendar year, including a runner-up finish in a comparable field at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.

Berger’s a strong putter with a great approach game but will need to be sharper around the greens at the Plantation Course. He averaged 1.20 strokes gained on the field over his eight rounds played here.

2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions betting picks – Long shot

Mackenzie Hughes (+12500)

Hughes is playing Kapalua for just the second time in his career after qualifying for last season’s Tour Championship. Though he didn’t win last season, he had a runner-up finish, a third-place result and four other top 10s in 22 events.

The Plantation Course’s emphasis on putting and play around the green play to Hughes’ top two strengths. He averaged 0.76 SG: Putting through his first 15 measured rounds to begin the 2020-21 season last fall.

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Gannett may earn revenue from audience referrals to betting services. Newsrooms are independent of this relationship and there is no influence on news coverage.