College star Bryson Nimmer makes TOUR debut

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It’s the annual flex officially known as the Sentry Tournament of Champions. RELATED: The First Look | Five Things to Know The new year always opens with a special field at Kapalua Resort’s Plantation Course on Maui. Win a PGA TOUR event and you’re in, but there are extra-special considerations contributing to the construct of 39 commits in this first full week of January 2023. The full breakdown, what each qualifier can expect on the only par 73 of the season and more is detailed below. POWER RANKINGS: SENTRY TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS The other 24 in the field will be ranked 16-39 in Tuesday’s Draws and Fades. (There are no Sleepers for the tournament.) For the record, 40 golfers qualified for the Sentry Tournament of Champions. (Rory McIlroy is the only eligible entrant taking a pass, and that’s not unusual for the world’s top-ranked talent. He’s qualified now a dozen times and has appeared just once (T4, 2019).) However, this year’s competition is a tournament of champions and those who qualified for the TOUR Championship in 2022. Ten golfers gained entry through the secondary conduit, including Sahith Theegala and Cameron Young, neither of whom has prevailed in a PGA TOUR event. As unconventional as it seems to invite non-winners to compete at Kapalua, it’s not unprecedented. It’s straight from the playbook of the 2021 field that was modified to accommodate 16 qualifiers from the TOUR Championship at the conclusion of the 2019-20 season that was interrupted for three months due to the pandemic. All of that now is just a history lesson because the new opportunity to earn a spot no longer is unique or temporary. It is now a constant. And that’s because the Sentry TOC is the first of the designated events on the PGA TOUR schedule. With it is an 83-percent increase in the total prize fund to $15 million. In addition to $2.7 million, the winner will bank 550 FedExCup points. There is no cut in the traditional, four-round contest. As a designated event, those who finished 2022 among the top performers in the Player Impact Program are required to compete if eligible. Of the 23 who qualified for bonus prize money, 17 are at Kapalua this week. (Each is allowed to sit out one of the designated events, so McIlroy, who finished second in the PIP, must appear in all remaining tournaments in the series for which he is eligible.) Naturally, the winner of the Sentry TOC automatically will become the first qualifier for the 2024 edition of the event, which will return to its leadoff position on the schedule for the first time since 2013. While all of these enhancements and modifications are occurring, Kapalua promises a familiar test to those who have given it a go before; well, at least to everyone who has shown since the course was renovated prior to the 2020 staging. Five returnees didn’t qualify in the interim. There also are 13 debutants in the field, including Adam Svensson, who was the last qualifier and first breakthrough champion of the 2022-23 season at The RSM Classic. For the fourth consecutive edition, Kapalua can stretch to 7,596 yards, but in this land of extremes, there’s more bark to that than the bite. Last year’s scoring average (among 38 golfers) was 68.217. Not only was that a record low since the course assumed its role as host in 1999, but it beat the previous mark (in 2003) by almost a full stroke. A standard set of four par 5s are sprinkled on the hilly track along the northwestern shore of Maui, but Kapalua boasts only three par 3s. No matter the par, the course’s only significant defense is wind, and that, of course, is variable. Moderate trade winds (from the northeast) are forecast throughout the tournament, and the strongest pushes will be felt in the middle two rounds, but by no means will they gust infamously like they did last in 2020. With fair conditions otherwise welcoming the field, scoring overall should be only slightly higher than last year. Because this is a shootout, the champion and bulk of the close calls will have lifted the averages of greens in regulation and converting those chances into par breakers. A target of 24-under 268 (or an average of 6-under 67 in every round) is reasonable. In respecting wind and due to Plantation’s full-time job as a resort course, bermuda greens are governed to max at just 11 feet on the Stimpmeter. The worst rough is trimmed to 2¼ inches, but the fairways are among the most forgiving and easiest to find all year, so the scorer’s mentality has the green light. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Draws & Fades SUNDAY: Payouts and Points, Medical Extensions, Qualifiers, Reshuffle, Rookie Ranking * – 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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AUSTIN, Texas – Down to the final 16 players. Tiger vs. Rory. The survivors face the potential of 72 holes in two days — but it’ll be worth it for the winner of this week’s World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. Here’s a preview going into Saturday morning’s Round of 16, which will be followed by the afternoon Quarterfinals. On Sunday, the Semifinals will be played in the morning, with the Championship and Consolation matches set for the afternoon. MATCH PLAY: Scores | Group Standings | Bracket | Group scenarios | Day 3 match recaps | Watch PGA TOUR LIVE, 8:15 a.m. ET Power Rankings: Round of 16 We’ve ranked the 16 remaining players in terms of current form and match play history, as well as just a gut feel for how they will fare this weekend at Austin Country Club. Please note: Not based on how the would match up in the bracket (this week’s record in parentheses): 1. RORY McILROY (3-0) – Has yet to trail in a match. No worse than T6 in all six starts in 2019. The 2015 champ. Coming off PLAYERS victory. 2. FRANCESCO MOLINARI (3-0) – Has yet to trail in a match. Only European to go 5-0 in a Ryder Cup. Recent winner at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. 3. HENRIK STENSON (3-0) – Has yet to trail in a match. Blitzed through the so-called “Group of Death” against three major champions. The 2007 champ. 4. TIGER WOODS (2-1) – Three-time champ (2003, 2004, 2008). An 80-time PGA TOUR winner. Oh, and he might have a bit more gallery support than anybody else. 5. BRANDEN GRACE (3-0) – Took out world No. 1 and former champ Dustin Johnson. Was 5-0 in 2015 Presidents Cup. Has trailed for just three holes. 6. MATT KUCHAR (2-1) – Two-time winner already this season. 2013 Match Play champ. Came from behind in all three group matches. 7. PAUL CASEY (2-0-1) – Two-time runner-up of event. Fresh off defending Valspar Championship title. Has lost just seven holes. 8. MARC LEISHMAN (3-0) – Trailed for just four holes this week. Good news: Third time out of group stage. Bad news: Has never advanced past but round of 16. 9. LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN (2-1) – Runner-up in 2016. Eight under in eight-hole stretch on Friday. 10. KEVIN KISNER (2-1) – Needed playoff to advance over Poulter, the man he had earlier lost to. Runner up 2018. Fatigue factor? He’s played more holes than any of the other 15 players. 11. SERGIO GARCIA (2-1) – Limped out of group with a Friday loss. Just eight birdies, the least of the remaining players. 12. TYRRELL HATTON (2-0-1) – Only trailed for three holes. Advanced out of group last year, but lost in round of 16. 13. JUSTIN ROSE (2-0-1) – In 11 previous tries, he’s made final 16 just once and lost. Comes off a T8 at THE PLAYERS. 14. LUCAS BJERREGAARD (2-0-1) – Ousted Justin Thomas. Overcame deficits in all three matches. Only Match Play rookie. 15. HAOTONG LI (2-1) – Needed a playoff to advance and looked shaky on some clutch putts. Was 0-3 in only previous appearance. 16. KEVIN NA (2-1) – Took out defending champion Watson. Only reached final 16 once prior and lost. Trailed for 23 holes, led for just 14 — worst on both accounts. Expert Picks  PGATOUR.COM staff writers Ben Everill and Mike McAllister are on site in Austin and will predict the winner of every match each day. Here are their Round of 16 picks (matches listed in order of playing schedule): Three Observations 1. THE ‘WORLD’ INDEED. Ten countries are represented by the 16 players left, a true reflection of the global competition at the World Golf Championships. The United States (4), England (3) and South Africa (2) have the most players remaining, with Northern Ireland, China, Denmark, Australia, Italy, Sweden and Spain also still represented. 2. EXPERIENCE MATTERS. The average number of Dell Technologies Match Play starts among the 16 players left is 8.4. Only one player (Lucas Bjerregaard) is making his Match Play debut, while another (HaoTong Li) is making his second. Experienced players such as Sergio Garcia (17th start) and Tiger Woods and Paul Casey (14th starts each) could have the edge. 3. TOP-FOUR FINAL? If No. 2 seed Justin Rose and No. 4 seed Rory McIlroy keep winning, they would meet in the Championship match on Sunday afternoon. If that happens, it would be just the second time in Match Play history that two of the top four overall seeds have advanced to the final. The only time it’s happened? The 2004 final when No. 1 Tiger Woods defeated No. 3 Davis Love III. By The Numbers Least Holes Played: McIlroy (46), Stenson (46), Molinari (46) Most Holes Played: Kisner (56), Rose (53), Bjerregaard (52) Most Holes Won: Molinari (21), Woods (18), Bjerregaard (18) Least Holes Won: Garcia (14), Oosthuizen (14), Hatton (14) Least Holes Lost: McIlroy (3), Stenson (5), Casey (7), Garcia (7), Hatton (7) Most Holes Led: Stenson (45), Molinari (42), McIlroy (41) Least Holes Trailed: Stenson (0), McIlroy (0), Molinari (0) Most Birdies: Oosthuizen (17), Casey (16), Kuhar (16) Fewest Bogeys: Garcia (2), Stenson (3)

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