The PGA Tour’s wraparound season returns from the winter break in early January with the traditional first event of the New Year, the Sentry Tournament of Champions. This invitational event is open only to players who won on the PGA Tour in the preceding calendar year. That is always a high calibre list and many of the biggest names will be in attendance at Kapalua Resort, Hawaii.
The first Tournament of Champions took place in 1953 with the early events played in Las Vegas. For 30 years the host course was the Las Costa Resort in California with the Kapalua Resort in Maui taking over since 1999.
As with many PGA Tour events, Jack Nicklaus holds the record for most wins in this event with 5. Recent two-time winners include Tiger Woods, Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas.
Next Played: TBD
Next years tournament dates have not been scheduled yet. We'll update this page with more information as we have it.
Last Played: January 2020
- Winner: Justin Thomas
- To Par / Margin: -14 / Playoff
Course Info
| Course | Location | Length | Prize Money |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plantation Course, Kapalua Resort | Kapalua, Hawaii | 7,596 Yards | $6,700,000 |
Lots of us could do with a nice golf holiday. Somewhere sunny, with stunning views and a golf course that isn’t over challenging would do nicely to remove the January blues, the lockdown blues. Somewhere like the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort on Maui would dp just nicely in fact!
Up against some stiff competition, this is one of the most visually stunning golf courses used by the PGA Tour. The Plantation Course is also one of the most gettable tests of the year with the last 10 winning scores ranging from -14 to -30. That the worst scoring year came 12 months ago is not a reflection of a toughening of the course, rather it shows how much of a say the winds that whip from the North Pacific Ocean can have on affairs.
The wind is arguably the Plantation Course’s only real defence. Its official yardage of 7,596 may look long enough to keep scoring in check but the dramatic changes in elevation help to knock the effective yardage down considerably. Still, big hitting is an advantage as those with the most power can utilise the camber of the course to leave themselves little more than a wedge into many holes at Kapalua.
Sentry Tournament of Champions Betting Tips
Note: The following tips are from 2021. Tips for next year will be added the week of the tournament.
The PGA Tour season no longer begins at the New Year but the winter break and natural rhythm of the year means that the Tournament of Champions has a back to school feel about it. You may expect that the effect of a few week’s break would open this tournament up to a surprise result but that is to miss the point of this tournament, which is open only to winners on last year’s PGA Tour. Or at least it used to be before a select number of invitations were offered to players who didn’t win last year. Rather taking away from the tournament “of Champions” moniker.
That said, you would be hard pressed to argue that the addition of the likes of Tony Finau, Scottie Scheffler and Abraham Ancer has weakened the quality of the field assembled at Kapalua. However, those three all have a big ask ahead of them. The list of recent Tournament of Champions winners is very strong and 22/1 is the biggest price that any recent winner has gone off at.
Bryson DeChambeau - 11/1
Social media is full of professional golfers telling the world that it is time to get back to work. Dustin Johnson, who finished last year on such a high by winning the Masters, is among those to show off his shiny new clubs and make his commitment to many more titles clear. Johnson’s incredible recent golf and previous winning form in the Tournament of Champions makes him an obvious favourite with the bookies but there is better value available than the 6/1 most firms are quoting about his chances.
The best of that value is surely the 11/1 you can get about Bryson DeChambeau’s chances. While many players have broken radio silence with their recent social posts, DeChambeau has been keeping his followers updated with his latest power and speed training since he was last seen competing at the Masters.
Hard work is the backdrop to everything that DeChambeau does and although his methods are not universally respected, his work ethic most certainly is. Like Johnson, DeChambeau had an incredible 2020, which was highlighted by his maiden major win. He blew the field away in the US Open and may just be able to do something similar on Maui. DeChambeau is a must bet at the prices.
Patrick Reed - 16/1
Patrick Reed has played competitive golf more recently than most of his rivals this week. The American was not just a big name addition to the field in the DP World Tour Championship, he made a run at the title in Dubai. Ultimately, Reed just couldn’t do enough to win but he cannot help but be happy to finish third, maintaining an impressive run of form. He has missed just two cuts since the return of golf during last season and earned seven top 10 finishes, incredible consistency.
Playing well is always a positive but for a competitor such as Reed it’s all a preamble towards winning. An unsuccessful defence of his Masters title in November will have added even more fuel to the competitive fire that burns inside him, as will the chance to get the better of so many world class opponents at the Tournament of Champions. Reed is one of several former champions in the field and has every chance of going in again at a generous looking 16/1.
Sungjae Im - 40/1
This could just be the strongest field in the history of the Tournament of Champions. Could it, therefore, be the year that we see a relatively long priced winner go in? If so, then Sungjae Im has every chance of being that winner and 40/1 looks solid value for him to get a place at the very least.
Im has become a firm fans’ favourite on the PGA Tour over the last couple of years. His aggressive style of golf and the sheer amount of tournaments that he plays is a surefire way to win supporters and large numbers will be cheering him on from home this week. The support is in hope rather than expectation as Im is making his tournament debut but he has a knack for learning the way golf courses play quickly and loves courses where scoring is low. Given that, we have to feel that an each way bet is in order at 40/1.
Sentry Tournament of Champions Recent Winners
| Year | Winner | To Par | Winning Margin |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 | Justin Thomas | -14 | Playoff |
| 2019 | Xander Schauffele | -23 | 1 Stroke |
| 2018 | Dustin Johnson | -24 | 8 Strokes |
| 2017 | Justin Thomas | -22 | 3 Strokes |
| 2016 | Jordan Spieth | -30 | 8 Strokes |
| 2015 | Patrick Reed | -21 | Playoff |
| 2014 | Zach Johnson | -19 | 1 Stroke |
| 2013 | Dustin Johnson | -16 | 4 Strokes |
| 2012 | Steve Stricker | -23 | 3 Strokes |
| 2011 | Jonathan Byrd | -24 | Playoff |
About the Tournament of Champions
Winning an event on the PGA Tour can be life changing. The amount of money that the world’s best golfers are playing for at the moment is only going upwards but there’s more than just money to play for.
Each PGA Tour win comes with all important FedEx Cup points, exemption for the PGA Tour for two years and a place in other huge tournaments such as the major championships and the Players Championship. Every player who wins on the PGA Tour is also awarded a place in the field for the following year’s Tournament of Champions which takes place in the first week of January every year at Kapalua Resort in Hawaii.
A Tough Week for the Caddies
The life of a professional golfer’s caddie isn’t always an easy one. They have to do a huge amount of work but their earnings potential is tied entirely to the performance of the player for whom they work. Fortunately for every caddie working at the Tournament of Champions, there is no cut so they are assured a pay cheque, but they certainly earn it.
Kapalua is an incredibly hilly part of the world. The effects of the dramatic changes in elevation on the Plantation Course are serious in terms of the way the tournament plays. The course is, in effect, much shorter than its official yardage of 7,596 for a par of 73. That only makes life more difficult for the caddies who have a hell of a job choosing the right clubs for their players to hit, all the while having to endure one of the most challenging walks in golf.
The Champion of Champions
By its very nature, the Tournament of Champions guarantees a strong field every year. It takes a great deal to win any PGA Tour event and also to win the Tournament of Champions so it is no surprise to see such a high calibre of players in the list of multiple winners.
Tiger Woods, Gary Player and Phil Mickelson each won the Tournament of Champions twice. Five men have won it three times but it is Jack Nicklaus who stands alone with an incredible five tournament wins against this elite field (see the table below for the full list of multiple winners up to and including the 2020 tournament.)
Players with the Most Wins at the Tournament of Champions
| Number of Wins | Players |
|---|---|
| Five Wins | Jack Nicklaus |
| Three Wins | Gene Littler, Arnold Palmer, Tom Watson, Stuart Appleby |
| Two Wins | Frank Beard, Don January, Gary Player, Lanny Wadkins, Tom Kite, Steve Elkington, Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Geoff Ogilvy, Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas |
Nicklaus is a fitting man to be the so-called champion of champions. After all, he holds the record for having earned the highest number of major championship wins. The Tournament of Champions was the perfect setting for Nicklaus to show the competitive spirit for which he was famed and it allowed him to become the man many believe to be the best golfer of all time.
The Golden Bear showed why he was ahead of the competition with comfortable wins in 1963 (when he scored victory by five shots), 1964 (by two shots) and 1971 (by a whopping eight shots). It was a very different story for his other two wins though. In 1973 he had to hold off an almighty challenge from Lee Trevino to win by one shot and in 1977 it went all the way down to the third hole of a sudden death playoff against Bruce Lietzke.