Cameron Smith leads by one shot at Sentry Tournament of Champions

Texas beat top-seeded Oklahoma State on extra holes in a dramatic NCAA semifinal on Tuesday, and the Longhorns will play Stanford on Wednesday with a national championship on the line.

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The easy part is over. As it always does, time ran its course. Thankfully, we were guaranteed not to hang in 2020 forever. Of course, much work remains to transition from dealing with its extraordinary remnants on the daily to filing all its infamy into the history books. Among the innumerable steps of varying degrees to completing that task are adjustments that the PGA TOUR made that will continue to remind us of the impact of last year. This week's Sentry Tournament of Champions serves as the annual reentry of the season following the holiday hiatus. Because three months of competition were lost due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the construct of the field at Kapalua Resort's Plantation Course is, what else, unprecedented. For the explanation on what is anticipated to be a one-time decision, how Kapalua played in its first edition after its comprehensive renovation a year ago, and much more, continue reading beneath the projected contenders. RELATED: The First Look | Inside the Field POWER RANKINGS: SENTRY TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS The other 27 in the field will be ranked 16-42 in Tuesday's Fantasy Insider. (There are no Sleepers for the tournament.) When considering the entirety of calendar-year 2020, there was a potential net negative of 11 unique winners of 10 tournaments. Three events originally scheduled for the 2019-20 season (during which 13 tournaments were canceled, including the Zurich Classic of New Orleans from which both members of the winning team qualify for the Sentry Tournament of Champions) were shifted to the fall of the 2020-21 season. Understanding how this could impact the field at Kapalua, it was announced over the summer that all qualifiers for the TOUR Championship would be extended an exemption to tee it up on Maui for the first and probably the only time. With the special provision in place, 45 golfers qualified for what has been the most exclusive event on the schedule because only winners since the last edition have been eligible. This year, 17 qualified via the TOUR Championship only. This includes Abraham Ancer and Scottie Scheffler, neither of whom ever have won a PGA TOUR event. (Rory McIlroy also gained entry via this exemption but has elected not to compete. Tyrrell Hatton and Jim Herman qualified traditionally as winners, but both also didn't commit. Herman cannot play due to contracting COVID-19.) Ignoring the fact that neither Ancer nor Scheffler has experienced the thrill of winning at this level, the chance of either breaking though at Kapalua isn't supported by tournament history. Since David Duval won the inaugural edition of the tournament on the course in 1999, only Sergio Garcia (2002) and Daniel Chopra (2008) have prevailed in a first appearance. In all, there are seven first-timers in the field, but there are only 15 who got a look at the course changes last year. This includes defending champion Justin Thomas, who survived a three-way playoff after settling for 14-under 278 amid challenging conditions in regulation. It was the highest winning aggregate in 13 years. Given the soft turf and strong winds during the renovation's debut, it's possible if not likely that the results will present as an anomaly over time. The machine for trade winds (out of the northeast) will be humming at times, but it won't be cranked up to 10 like last year. And the chance for rain is all but zero. With pleasant weather forecasted, designers Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw no doubt are eager to observe how the beefier field goes about reeling in the beautifully artistic, blue-and-white glass trophy representing a whale's tail and a crashing wave. The course tips at 7,596 yards and plays to the only par of 73 all season. There are only three par 3s. In this land of extremes, last year's field averaged 80.93 percent (or 12.14) fairways hit per round, easily the most of 41 courses used all season. Now, that's not unusual no matter the conditions since there's considerable real estate within favorable sightlines framed by two-inch primary rough off most tees, but it didn't translate into a commensurate amount of scoring opportunities, largely because of the wind. The field averaged 12.60 greens in regulation per round, which is 1-2 fewer per round than expected. It also registered an average proximity to the hole reading of 45 feet, longest among all tracks measured by ShotLink. The tournament wasn't without an alignment of expectations, however. The new TifEagle bermudagrass greens, which continue to mature but still could show a little spring this week, challenged marvelously. One-putt percentages always will be low and three-putt avoidances always will be high on the massive surfaces, but nothing measured leaps off the page as an outlier. If anything, they were easier because guys could be aggressive within striking distance. That's probably going to change. Greens were flattened as part of the upgrade. This yielded an increase of hole locations and the opportunity to increase speed. Weather-pending, they could run upwards of 11 feet on the Stimpmeter, which is a foot longer than before they were modified. Although Kapalua always has rewarded the full game, the premium on putting has been elevated. ROB BOLTON'S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.COM's Fantasy Insider Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous angles. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Fantasy Insider SUNDAY: Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Medical Extensions, Rookie Watch * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM's Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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SAN DIEGO – Matthew Wolff made a brave return to golf at the U.S. Open on Thursday. The 22-year-old has been missing from the PGA TOUR for two months as he looked to fight off some mental health issues plaguing his mind, his game, and his life in general. But the 2019 3M Open winner – and runner up from the 2020 U.S. Open – courageously picked Torrey Pines and its tough examination as his return despite shooting a 6-over 78 on the South Course prior to a withdrawal back in February’s Farmers Insurance Open. This time around Wolff put together a rollercoaster 1-under 70 (the U.S. Open plays the course to a par-71) that included an incredible eight birdies and just four pars – the fewest number of pars in a sub-par round at a U.S. Open since detailed stats have been kept (1983). The previous highest score to par in a U.S. Open when making eight or more birdies in a round was 4-under. Stepping aside as a professional athlete was a tough decision for Wolff but a wise one beyond his tender years. As we learn more and more about mental health battles it has become apparent that knowing when to take a break can be pivotal to any hope of recovery. Wolff says he knew something drastic was needed when he hated every minute of playing in April’s Masters where he was disqualified for signing an incorrect scorecard. Prior to that he’d withdrawn mid tournament from two events and hadn’t had a top-25 since being runner up in back-to-back starts at the U.S. Open and Shriners Hospitals for Children Open last fall. We often associate bravery and strength with physical feats. But one doesn’t need to play a contact sport to show these traits. Wolff was brave to submit his psyche to the Torrey test. He was bold to fight back from mid-round adversity. And he was gutsy to front up to media scrutiny and talk about his battles. “Mental health is a really big problem,” Wolff said. “Any professional athlete has to deal with a lot more stress and pressure than most people and it just kind of got to me… and I think I just put too much pressure on myself… but I’ve been working on it, I’ve been learning and I think that’s all I can do. “(The Masters) was pretty much the turning point… the entire time my head was down and I hated it. I just didn’t love being out there. The biggest thing right now that I’m trying to do is enjoy myself again and just take care of myself really. I love these fans and I want to play well for them, but right now I’m just really trying to be happy and realize I live a great life and I want to enjoy it.” As someone looking to live a little more stress-free Wolff put his nerves to the test on Thursday when he blocked his first tee-shot on the 10th way right. It was the type of swing that could’ve broken him from the start but instead he was soon smiling after a brilliant recovery shot to 22-feet and a converted birdie saw him on his way. With further birdies at 12 and 13 Wolff was immediately back in the limelight, leading the tournament. And then things got awkward. A bogey on the 15th hole was followed by a terrible double bogey on the 16th that featured a missed putt from a foot and then another bogey on 17 had him over par and seemingly in trouble. Wolff saw it as a sign. This was the moment to put into practice the methods he’d worked on throughout his time away. The score wasn’t the focus. His enjoyment was. He took a few deep breaths and reminded himself how many others would love to be where he was, playing sport for a living and how, more importantly, he loves playing the game. “My caddie and I have been working really hard about just staying in the level head space and focusing on the shot ahead of you and not the shot behind you,” Wolff explained. “I’m probably going to be struggling with that and learning how to handle bad shots for the rest of my career, but I’m young and I’m learning.” With his focus keyed in he birdied five of his next six holes – with a bogey on the other – and once again found the top of the leaderboard. His second double bogey of the round though would kill the momentum and lead to the respectable 70, just three off the pace from the morning wave. “A lot of good, a lot of bad. I started off really strong and made quite a few putts at the start of my round and then stumbled a little bit. But it’s the U.S. Open, everyone’s going to stumble,” Wolff said. “I wasn’t expecting it. It’s my first tournament back and it’s the hardest tournament that golf provides us. So it was really nice to start the way I did. It’s awesome that I played well, I’m thrilled, but no matter what score that I shot it was just good to be having fun and I haven’t had fun out here in quite a while. “I made a huge step in the right direction and I have a heck of a long way to go, but I’m working my way towards it.”

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