The Sentry PGA Tour Golf Betting Odds

However, not all the top players who qualified are teeing it up. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler is favoured on the golf odds.

This had been called the Sentry Tournament of Champions but has been apparently shortened to just The Sentry. It was no sure thing this would be held at its usual spot on Maui after the terrible wildfires there last year, but the Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort is ready to host for the 26^th year. It is a par 73 at 7,596 yards – the only par 73 on Tour and the lone course with seven holes longer than 500 yards. It most likely will take at least 20 under par to win unless the winds are blowing. The tournament record is a whopping 34-under 258 by Aussie Cameron Smith in 2022.

It used to be that only winners from the previous year were eligible for The Sentry but now the top 50 players from the 2022-23 FedEx Cup points list also are invited but one glaring omission will be Spain’s Jon Rahm, who won here last year at 27-under 265 and has finished runner-up twice (2022, 2018).

Rahm stunned the golf world in December by leaving the PGA Tour for LIV Golf and a reported $300 million (at least) guarantee. Rahm, ranked No. 3 in the world, seemed fully committed to the PGA Tour after claiming his second major championship at the 2023 Masters. Rahm also was given partial ownership of his new LIV Golf team and that league is recruiting other PGA Tour players to join Rahm’s team.

What all this means for the proposed PGA Tour/LIV Golf merger is unclear but if things stay as they were last year, which appears to be the case right now, Rahm will only be allowed to play the four majors on the PGA Tour. Rahm said his biggest concern was not being allowed to play in future Ryder Cups.

“This decision was for many reasons what I thought was best for me,” Rahm said. “Don’t get me wrong, it’s a great deal. I had a really good offer in front of me, and it’s one of the reasons why I took it, right? They really put me in a position where I had to think about it and I did.”

World No. 2 Rory McIlroy isn’t playing this week and rarely does here as he prefers to open his season in Europe. International players have won here in back-to-back years with Americans claiming 11 in a row prior to that. Dustin Johnson is a two-time winner here but of course also with LIV. The Sentry is the first of 36 regular season tournaments for 2024. Because of the smaller field of 59 players, there is no cut.

The Sentry Golf Odds

Last year, we liked Jon Rahm for a Top 5, which obviously paid. Our winning pick was Collin Morikawa at +1800 and that looked like money in the bag with Morikawa leading by six shots after 54 holes, but he shot a final-round 72 to Rahm’s 63 and finished two shots back. Morikawa tied a PGA Tour record for losing the largest 54-hole lead at six shots.

World No. 1 and American Scottie Scheffler is the +500 favourite this year, and he did win Tiger Woods’ unofficial Tour event last month in the Bahamas. Scheffler’s best finish here was seventh in 2023. Viktor Hovland is +900 with Morikawa and Max Homa each +1200, and Ludvig Aberg, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele +1400 apiece. Hovland is the reigning FedExCup champion with a best result of 18^th at this event.

Aberg, a rising young Swedish star, won the final official event of last season, The RSM Classic, and this is his tournament debut. Homa was third last year, while Cantlay has a pair of fourth-place finishes at this event for his best result. Schauffele won in 2019 and was runner-up the next year.

Stan Leonard is the lone Canadian to win the tournament, back in 1958 by a stroke over Billy Casper. Corey Conners was the top finisher last year at T18, Mackenzie Hughes was T21 and Adam Svensson 37^th. Conners is +6600 this week with Svensson +10000, Hughes +12500 and Nick Taylor +15000.