Sentry gets 2025 PGA Tour season off to fast start
The Plantation Course finishing hole – image Gettys
The PGA Tour’s 2025 season begins on Thursday (Friday morning Australian time) when the field of 60 of the PGA Tour’s achievers in 2024 take to the fairways of The Plantation Course at Kapalua on Maui in Hawaii.
Previously known as the Tournament of Champions, because it brought together the winners of events on the previous year’s schedule, the event now includes not only the winners but those golfers finishing inside the top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings.
Now one of eight Signature events on the 2025 PGA Tour schedule the event carries a purse of US$20 million with the winner to pocket US$3.6 million to get his season off to the best possible start.
As has often been the case with this event or its equivalent one or two of the game’s leading players are missing from the field, some preferring to start their season a little later despite the attraction of the significant purse although this year the absence of world number one Scottie Scheffler is due to a hand injury which is expected to be healed within a month.
World number three Rory McIlroy is another to not play the event, his decision by choice rather than an enforced injury or such.
Xander Schauffele will therefore start to event as the highest ranked player in the field and with a win and a runner-up finish over the Plantation Course in his seven starts there he deserves favouritism.
Australia will have three players in the field although interestingly only Cam Davis has won in 2004, his victory coming in the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Adam Scott, Jason Day and Davis will tee it up with Scott playing for the 9th occasion.
Scott plays the event for the 9th occasion, his best coming in 2007 when finishing runner-up.
Day has had four top tens in his previous 6 starts in the event with a best of 3rd in his stellar year of 2015.
Davis gets to play his third Sentry Tournament his best coming on debut when 10th in 2022.
