One of eight signature events on the PGA Tour schedule, The Sentry, previously known as the Tournament of Champions, marks the start of the 2024 professional golf season.
Signature events signify a limited field tournament “featuring top players with increased prize money and FedEx Cup points,” per the PGA Tour’s official website.
17 of the top 20 players in the World Golf Ranking will tee it up at Kapalua Resort, led by outright favorites Scottie Scheffler (+500) and Viktor Hovland (+800). In total, a field of 59 players will take on the Plantation Course, an unconventional par-73 with three par-3s and four par-5s.
Let’s get into Jason’s picks for the event.
Read more: The Sentry 2024 dates, schedule, course, players, and more
To Win Outright – Tony Finau (+2800)
Tony Finau is back on the PGA Tour. I know it’s easy to take a walk down narrative street, and I love the romantic notion of Tony showing his loyalty to the PGA Tour, then he gets paid off just a few weeks later and wins a tournament. That’s not why I’m picking him here, though.
He’s a big hitter on a big golf course, he’s played well here in the past with two top-10s in four career starts, but mostly, it’s that value. I can get him at a number that is five times, four times the number of a Scottie Scheffler, of a Viktor Hovland.
To me, that represents a whole lot of value in that range this week.
To Win Outright – Corey Conners (+6600)
Conners is a guy I like a lot. He’s won the Valero Texas Open twice in his career, including last year, and I think it’s time for him to win a bigger event. I’m not so sure it’s going to be a major championship, but I do think he can win a signature event.
We all know he’s been fantastic tee to green over the last handful of years. Could the putter be better? Sure, there’s a lot of room for improvement there. On those weeks where he does putt above average, he is going to contend.
Top-10 Finish – Russell Henley (+300)
Very much in the same vein as Corey Conners, Henley is more of a ball striker on tight golf courses, but I’m looking for that spike week with the putter.
Last year at Kapalua, we saw Jon Rahm win, Collin Morikawa, Tom Hoge, Tom Kim, J.J. Spaun all right there behind him. What do all those guys have in common? They’re not big hitters and they’re all ball strikers. I’m trying to chase what those guys showed they could do last year and had success on this golf course.
Odds displayed within this article were correct at the time of writing and are subject to change.
