
Sentry Tournament of Champions Tips: Three selections for the first event of the year

Jamie Broadhurst previews this week's event on the PGA Tour from Hawaii and has three selections that he likes the look of.
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Happy New Year to you all! I hope you had a cracking festive period and are ready for another successful year. 2023 saw the previews well in profit with season ending figures of +250 points and a Return of Investment percentage of a massive 58%, the third year in a row I have managed triple figure profits which I am pleased about for sure and hope to replicate again this year!
Sentry Tournament of Champions
We have a field consisting of 59 players, that makes this the largest ever Sentry Tournament of Champions field. The field this year does not actually consist of all winners however, 35 of the field are winners from the PGA Tour from last year, and the remaining 24 qualified for this event by finishing inside the top-50 in last season’s FedEx Cup standings on the PGA Tour. The only winner from last year I cannot see in the field this week is Rory McIlroy, as was the same here for the last two years.
The defending champion for the second year in a row will not be in attendance this week, due to Jon Rahm recently announcing he has joined the rival LIV golf league, this was the same as Cameron Smith last year.
The Sentry Tournament of Champions will be held for the 26th year in a row at the Plantation Course, Kapalua Resort on the island of Maui, Hawaii.
Let’s go into the specifics of The Plantation Course and see why it is a very unique course on the PGA Tour.
Details of The Plantation Course
- Par 73 – Links style course
- 7596 yards
- 3 x Par-3s – ranging from 161-219 yards
- 11 x Par-4s – ranging from 369-550 yards (Seven under 425 yards)
- 4 x Par-5s – ranging from 526-677 yards
- Bill Coore/Ben Creshaw Design
- Bermuda Greens
- Seven holes over 500 yards
- Wide, undulating fairways/greens
- Steep run off areas around the greens
As I said, a unique course, with this track being the only Par 73 we will see on Tour all year. Not only this, but the players will have to adapt to the extreme variety of length to some of the holes, where power and precision will both be tested as we see an abnormal amount of very short Par 4s, which will be reachable to some guys and then some extremely long Par-4/5s they will need to navigate. The course actually sits inside the top-10 longest tracks that the players will face on American soil this year on Tour.
Previous winners to note
Here's a list of the past seven winners of the Sentry Tournament of Champions;
- 2023 Jon Rahm -27
- 2022 Cameron Smith -34
- 2021 Harris English -25
- 2020 Justin Thomas -14
- 2019 Xander Schauffele -23
- 2018 Dustin Johnson -24
- 2017 Justin Thomas -22
Average stats for the past 7 winners – Score -24
- 18th Driving Accuracy
- 5th Strokes Gained: Off the Tee
- 5th Strokes Gained: Tee2Green
- 4th Strokes Gained: Approach
- 8th Strokes Gained: Around the Green
- 1st Putting Average
- 7th Par 3 scoring
- 4th Par 4 scoring
- 6th Par 5 scoring
Stats to focus on this week
- Good Strokes Gained: Off the Tee/Strokes Gained: Tee2Green stats
- Strokes Gained: Approach
- Putting Average
- Good history at the course
- Good history on Bermuda Greens
- Par 4 scoring
From the stat averages from previous winners, we can see Driving Accuracy has never been a factor to dominate the field, probably due to how wide these fairways are and how easy they are to hit, meaning the percentages are always high in the field. However, putting it in the right places off the tee on the longer holes and getting it as close to the green on the shorter Par-4s is clearly key, so I will be honing in on players with strong Off the Tee games.
Strokes Gained: Approach and Around The Green may not have been too impressive for the previous winners, however with the amount of short second shots the players will face on the shorter Par-4s I clearly believe this will be a stat to look out for. That is similar for players Around The Green games, the amount of undulation and run off areas around these greens this week is a high number, so players will need sharp short games to prevail.
A good history both at this course and on tricky Bermuda surfaces will be handy here, none of the last seven winners were debuting the course and all had at least one visit to the course previously. Having a ‘dab hand’ on Bermuda surfaces previously will also be a factor in getting hot with the putter this week. The greens play slow, but the greens are massive in size and the undulations on them prove very tricky year in year out.
And finally, as the yardage ranges are so large on the Par-4s this week, I feel if they are conquered by an individual, it’ll put them in great position on Sunday, score low on the short ones and avoid mistakes on the long tricky ones. A good all-around game is definitely required here, especially if the players want to reach the low numbers it’ll take to win this week.
Sentry Tournament of Champions Tips
Selections for the Sentry Tournament of Champions
With the limited field this week and no cut, it means we have some really short odds in the betting. Therefore I will just be putting up the three tips to start the year off! One selection in the 5-places market and the other two in the 8-place market. Good luck all, let’s get the year off to a good start.
Max Homa 14/1 (5-places)
Course Form – 25-15-3
A recent winner on the DP World Tour at the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa that really did test a different side to Homa’s game. I was very impressed to see him charge through the field and get the eventual win. Homa’s had some time off since then throughout, so I will not look into his form from the back end of last year as it is not much use at all! His form here has progressively got better the three times he has visited the Hawaiian course and I have good vibes for Max this week.
Xander Schauffele 16/1 (5-places)
Course Form – 22-1-2-5-12-WD
Xander loves this place! He has qualified to be here the last six years in a row, with the unfortunate withdrawal through injury last year. He has finished inside the top-5 three times. His long and deadly Tee2Green game along with a very much improved putter will be the key for his success this week, and I am sure he will have plenty of it.
Rickie Fowler 33/1 (8-places)
Course Form – 6-5-4-5
Due to his struggles, Rickie did not qualify for The Sentry for the last four years. However, looking at his form prior to those four years he clearly loves this venue! And the way he finished off his 2023 I really like his odds here this week in the 8-place market! Aside from the ‘big’ 4/5 golfers in the world rankings, Fowler was one of the best on tour last season for Strokes Gained: Approach. Get that long putter working this week and we could have a good run with him.

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