The PGA Tour kicks off with the first event of the year at 2:30pm EST today with the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the field this year is expanded. I break it down from a gambling/DFS perspective.
Course Breakdown
Par 73, 7518 yds but at a higher elevation so it plays shorter, resort course, lot of elevation changes and uneven lies as the course was built on the side of a mountain, most of the Par 5s are reachable in 2, huge very wide fairways with very little rough (over 70% of Fairways Hit), if tee shots are ridiculously wild players will have to deal with very tall grass, huge and slow Bermuda greens with a lot of undulation (but they were a little quicker last year and had more bounce due to resodding), some greens have been flattened this year to make the course a little more difficult, 90+ bunkers on the course, right on the Pacific Ocean and wind will be a factor here
Tournament Notes
- Expanded field this year due to covid shutdown last year, everyone that won last year as well as any player that played in the Tour Championship last year is invited
- No cut event
- The last ten winners have all been from the USA
- Only 5 non-US golfers have finished T3 since 2011: Day, Rahm, Hideki (x2), Laird, GMac
- Winners the previous year here have done very well the following year
- In the last 7 years, 20 of the 27 T3 finishers have been T25 in the World Golf Rankings and 23 of those 27 were American
- No first time player has won since 2008 (Daniel Chopra)
- Since 2014, only seven golfers have finished T5 in their first appearance here, including Spieth, Hideki, Rahm, Rory and Brooks (so the elite)
- Only two first timers came in the T10 last year, Morikawa (T7) and Niemann (T5)
Key Stats
SG: Approach, SG: T2G, SG: OTT
Main proximity distance range on approach: Less than 150 yds. (~40% of approach shots), Over 200 yds. (~40% of approach shots)
Corollary Courses
- TPC Deere Run (John Deere Classic) – 4 of the last 11 winners also won the John Deere Classic (Spieth, ZJ, Stricker and Jonathan Byrd)
- Augusta National (The Masters)
Field
42 Players including 6 of the top 7 in the world (No Rory)
Defending Champion: Justin Thomas (-14 in playoff)
Runner Up Last Year: Patrick Reed, Xander Schauffele (-14)
Players
JT: 10700: +700 – Last 5 years here 1,3,T22,1,T21, 1st in approach, 1st in SG: T2G, 3rd in ballstriking, 2nd in SG: ATG, 1st in opportunities gained, 2nd in Par 4 scoring, 5th in Par 4 scoring 350-400 yds, 5th in proximity 100-125 yds, 5th in DK pts
Morikawa: 8800: +2200 – T7 in his debut here last year, 3rd in approach, 5th in ballstriking, 6th in SG: T2G, 14 in SG: OTT, 2nd in Par 4 scoring 350-400 yds, 5th in opportunities gained
Neimann: 8300: +4000 – T5 in his debut here last year, 6th in ballstriking, 7th in Approach, 10th in SG: OTT, 14th in SG: T2G, 14th in opportunities gained, 7th in proximity 100-125 yds, 13th in Par 4 scoring
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