MAUI, Hawaii: The first week of the 2024 PGA Tour season brings little clarity to the future of men's professional golf, as the tour continues negotiating with Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund and a group of American sports owners.
But The Sentry, which begins Thursday at the Plantation Course at Kapalua in Maui, Hawaii, serves as a reminder of the massive shakeups the PGA Tour has already undergone.
It's the kickoff of the 2024 season as the tour returns to a calendar-year schedule rather than the "wraparound" format. It's also the first signature event of 2024 and sports a US$20 million prize pool, a remnant of a time when the PGA Tour was competing with LIV Golf's massive payouts rather than trying to ally with LIV's Saudi backers.
The event was previously known as the Sentry Tournament of Champions and was only available to players who had won on tour the previous season. Going forward, it's open to the top 50 finishers in the previous year's FedEx Cup, along with anyone who won a tournament that year. The field will feature a record 59 golfers, with no cut.
Notably absent: 2023 Sentry champion Jon Rahm. The Spanish two-time major winner sent shockwaves through the sport when he changed allegiances from the PGA Tour to LIV Golf last month, for a contract reportedly in excess of US$300 million.
Canadian Mackenzie Hughes only made the Sentry field because his FedEx Cup finish was bumped up from No. 51 to No. 50 after the PGA Tour suspended Rahm.
Still, Hughes was thinking less about himself and more about an overlooked stakeholder – golf fans – when reflecting on where PGA vs. LIV stands.
"The fan just wants to watch golf. I think you watch sports for an escape from other nonsense, but I think golf has brought a lot of nonsense onto its plate, and now you don't get just golf, you get a lot of other stuff going on," Hughes said. "It's a bit of a circus."
Fans on the mainland who tune into the Sentry's late-afternoon and evening broadcasts will be treated to a field starring Scottie Scheffler, Jordan Spieth, Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele and 2023 FedEx Cup champion Viktor Hovland of Norway.
This week, Scheffler was named PGA Tour Player of the Year for the second season running. He was the first back-to-back winner since Tiger Woods in 2005-07.
"I just think it depends on what the guys kind of looked at for their vote," Scheffler said.
"I guess this year they really kind of appreciated my consistency. Like I said, I was very proud of that."
The golfers will play a par-73, 7,596-yard beachside course that has produced winners such as Justin Thomas (who did not qualify this year), Schauffele and Spieth.
"I think when you ask for wind here on the islands it can be a bit tricky," Schauffele said...
"...It's a fresh reminder coming out and being fortunate to play in the Sentry here, because you sort of forget what it's like to grind over 1-foot putts when it's blowing 30 (mph). It's going to happen (Thursday) and the next four days. But, yeah, I want it to play tough." --Field Level Media