The Sentry Tournament of Champions 2024
Overview
Dates: January 4, 2024 to January 7, 2024
Location: Kapalua, Hawaii, USA
Course: Plantation Course
Course Par: 73
Course Length: 7596
Prize Purse: $2000000
The festive season is behind us and the new calendar-year PGA Tour season kicks off immediately
with The Sentry, which takes place at its traditional home, the Plantation Course at Kapalua. The
qualification criteria have been changed this year to include the top 50 finishers in the FedEx Cup
alongside all PGA Tour winners from last year, which leaves us with a strong field of 59, headed by
world number 1 Scottie Scheffler and last year’s FedEx Cup hero Viktor Hovland.
After a spectacular 2022-3 season for FormGolfer, we’ll be looking to get off to a hot start once again
as we head towards the 1000 points profit mark in just our third year.
Preview
Hot putters simply have to be at the forefront of our thinking for this event. Despite weighing in at a
shade under 7600 yards, Kapalua is wide open and doesn’t play to anything like its full length, so it’s
likely to be on the huge greens that this event is won and lost. Winning scores are usually in excess
of 20 under par and holing at least your share appears to be a prerequisite for success. A little bit of
course form certainly won’t go amiss either, with form holding up reasonably well here from season
to season.
Outrights
| Player | Points | Type | UK Odds | Places | Outright US Odds |
| Scottie Scheffler | 5 | Each Way | 6/1 | 6 | +600 |
| Collin Morikawa | 3.5 | Each Way | 14/1 | 5 | +1400 |
| Tom Kim | 2.5 | Each Way | 25/1 | 6 | +2500 |
Our first selection of 2024 is unoriginal, but in the hope that the end-of-season putting
improvements we saw have taken hold during the off-season, we simply can’t let Scottie Scheffler
(5pts each way, 6/1, 6 places) go unbacked here. Make no mistake about it, had he putted even
adequately during 2023 we’d be looking at someone who went into this event a mile clear in the
world rankings and with a host of victories over the last six months or so. His tee-to-green
performance last year was statistically the best seen by any player since Tiger Woods in his prime
and having started to work with Phil Kenyon to address the one thing that was holding him back,
there’s every reason to expect a huge year for Scottie in 2024. His performance at the Hero was
much more encouraging and it could just be that the break has given him a little space and time to
fully put his putting demons to bed. We don’t get involved with favourites often, but this looks to be
the right time to do so.
Our second pick is Collin Morikawa (3.5pts each way, 14/1, 5 places); another player whose putting
has improved of late and whose recent form and history in this event (three consecutive top 10s,
including a narrow runner up to Jon Rahm last year) gives him every chance of contending again.
Having often struggled on the greens last year, Morikawa’s putting towards the very end of 2023
was notably better, while his long game remains among the very best in the world, so he should give
himself plenty of birdie opportunities. Three straight top 10s at the tail end of last season show that
he was back to something like top form and it’s easy to see him carrying that into this event, which
he is likely to view as a great chance to get off to a flying start in 2024.
Finally, we’ll include Tom Kim (2.5pts each way, 25/1, 6 places), who also seemed to be heading
back to something like his very best in late 2023, sits in the top five in the field on putting stats over
the last six months, and posted a very creditable T5 finish in this event last year (despite not putting
well). Five straight top 20s to close out his season, including a win in the Shriners, should mean he
starts the year full of confidence, and he’s young enough to still be improving.
Of those at bigger prices, our friend Erik van Rooyen looks interesting at over 100/1, particularly
given that his biggest weakness on the stats is his short game, which wouldn’t be hugely important
at Kapalua. Sepp Straka is another that was considered, but we’ve gone with three solid picks from
the front of the market on this occasion.
All the best for the 2024 season.