Sentry Tournament Of Champions Golf Betting Preview

The PGA Tour is back in action this weekend when it kicks off its 2023 schedule in Hawaii at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. This week marks the 25th year the event will be played on the island of Maui. Tournament play begins on Thursday, January 5th, and concludes on Sunday, January 8th. 

Cameron Smith won the event last year, blitzing the tournament record with a 34-under par to beat Jon Rahm by one stroke. Smith, who has since gone on to join LIV Golf, won’t return to the Plantation Course at the Kapalua Resort to defend his title. 

Players in the limited field will fight for a $15 million dollar purse and increased FedEx Cup points. The winner earns $2.7 million and 550 FedEx Cup points.

The Field

The first event of 2023 is also the first elevated tournament on the PGA Tour schedule. The field boasts 17 of the top 20 players in the world are expected to tee it up this week. Scottie Scheffler highlights the strong field as the 2nd ranked player in the world.

Justin Thomas, currently sitting 8th in the world, looks to win at Kapalua for the third time in his career. Thomas won here in 2017 and again in 2020. 

Nine of the current top 10 players in the FedEx Cup rankings are in the field, led by Seamus Power, who is the leader. Power had a tremendous fall slate with a win at the Butterfield Bermuda Championship and top five finishes at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba and the RSM Classic.

A handful of players are making their tournament debuts, led by Tom Kim. U.S. Open winner Matthew Fitzpatrick, PGA Tour Rookie of the Year Cameron Young, Will Zalatoris, and Sahith Theegala highlight the list of first-time participants.

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The Course

The Plantation Course at Kapalua opened its doors in 1991, and this week marks the 25th year the tournament has been played on the property. On the scorecard, the course reads 7,596 yards in length and plays as the PGA Tour’s only par 73. Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw collaborated to design the course’s layout.

The elevation changes are extreme on a course that offers some of the best scenic views in the game. If the wind is down, watch out as players will take full advantage of a scorable track. 

Betting Odds

Spain’s Jon Rahm enters the tournament as the betting favorite at (+600). Rahm has found a lot of success on the island of Maui, with a pair of runner-up finishes in 2018 and last year. 

Scheffler (+900) follows closely behind Rahm, looking to maintain his form he had when he won four times in 2022. The 2022 Masters winner cooled off down the stretch, but his game fits this course well.

Rounding out the top five are three players, all at (+1000) odds to win. Those pros are Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, and Xander Schauffele. Cantlay, the number four player in the world, tees it up for the first time since early October.