2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions Preview, Picks & Analysis

With barely any time to draw breath, the PGA Tour is off and running again with the Sentry Tournament of Champions at The Plantation Course at Kapalua - and it will need to go some to top last year’s tournament.

Traditionally, this is an event for men who won events during the preceding season but it is also now open to the top 30 players from the final FedEx Cup standings, which opens the door for the likes of Collin Morikawa and Cameron Young.

It was won in sensational style last year by Cameron Smith, who held off the challenge of Spain’s Jon Rahm as the two men enjoyed a birdie fest over the course of four days. Smith shot a tournament record score of 34 under par over 72 holes but won by just a single shot from the Spaniard.

And it set up Smith for a quite astonishing year that also saw him win the Players Championship and The Open Championship before defecting to LIV Golf, winning there too and then heading home to claim the Australian PGA Championship.

Collin Morikawa, Adam Scott, Sahith Theegala and Cameron Young will all be playing and have one thing in common - none of them managed a victory in 2022. In fact, Young and Theegala are still searching for their maiden PGA Tour successes.

Theegala is set to make his Sentry Tournament of Champions debut following an impressive rookie season on Tour with seven top-10 finishes and his first Tour Championship appearance. The 25-year-old’s best finishes came at the Travelers Championship (T2) and The RSM Classic (T2) followed by a T3 finish at the Phoenix Open and T5 finishes at the Memorial and ZOZO Championship.

Young, the 2022 PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, recorded four runner-up finishes and advanced to his first Tour Championship. In addition to second-place finishes at The Genesis Invitational, Wells Fargo Championship, The Open Championship  and Rocket Mortgage Classic, Young enjoyed nine top 25s and finished ninth in the FedExCup standings.

A total of 40 players qualified for the tournament - 30 as a result of PGA Tour wins and 10 who earned their way in thanks to finishing in the top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings.

A number of winners have, however, chosen to give the event a miss, including world number one Rory McIlroy.

But Norway’s Viktor Hovland has committed and will be one to watch after ending the year with a superb performance in winning the Hero World Challenge.

It is hard to believe that Morikawa ended 2022 without a trophy. He had five top-five finishes in 20 starts. After a T5 finish at the 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions, his best finish of the year was T2 at The Genesis Invitational in February followed by a fifth-place finish at The Masters, T5 at the U.S. Open and T5 at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Morikawa qualified for his fourth consecutive FedExCup Playoffs, and made the Tour Championship for the third straight year.

He finished in a tie for 21st place in the FedExCup standings and was named one of six captain’s picks for the United States at the 2022 Presidents Cup. Morikawa will make his fourth trip to The Plantation Course at Kapalua where he has never finished outside the top 10. It is clearly a course that suits his eye.

And you can never rule out the machine that is Sungjae Im. In 26 starts in 2021-22, Im missed just four cuts. He won the Shriners, finished second on three occasions and, incredibly, accumulated 17 top-25 finishes. When the South Korean plays all four rounds he tends to be there or thereabouts and, of course, there is no cut this week.

Form Guide

Viktor Hovland signed off 2022 in style, cruising to a four-shot victory at the Hero World Challenge. He is a remarkably consistent player and, with this being a Ryder Cup year, he will want to get off to a winning start. Collin Morikawa went through 2022 without picking up a trophy but came close several times and he has never finished outside the top 10 here

Tournament Winners

It was won in 2016 by Jordan Spieth, in 2017 and 2020 by Justin Thomas, in 2018 by Dustin Johnson, in 2019 by Xander Schauffele in 2021 by Harris English and last year by Cameron Smith.

The Course

The Plantation Course measures 7,596 yards and is a par 73. It was designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore and features wide and generous fairways, putting a premium on accurate iron play and good putting. It is located on the island of Hawaii, which means that wind is usually a feature. There are also lots of elevated tees, so expect to witness a few 400-yard drives. The course record is 61

Tips & PIcks

To win:

Viktor Hovland. Fabulous ball striker

Each way:

Sungjae Im. A machine

Each way:

Collin Morikawa. Seriously enjoys this course

Five to Follow

Viktor Hovland. Don’t believe it when the pundits tell you he can’t putt

Sungjae Im. He will be there or thereabouts

Collin Morikawa. Looking to get back to winning ways

Cameron Young.  First victory cannot be far away

Sahith Theegala. Big hitter with a lovely touch around the greens