Power Rankings: Rocket Mortgage Classic

Reigning FedExCup champion Justin Thomas rings in the restart as defending champ at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, topping a 34-man field comprised solely of tournament winners from 2017. Dustin Johnson, whose four PGA TOUR wins in 2017 were second only to Thomas, and Jordan Spieth also headline the roster to begin the TOUR’s Hawaiian fortnight. In all, Kapalua Resort welcomes seven of the top eight in the year’s final world rankings. FIELD NOTES: Xander Schauffele, whose TOUR Championship triumph nailed down Rookie of the Year honors, and Jon Rahm top a group of 14 pros making their debut at Kapalua. That list also includes all four first-time winners from the fall schedule. … Kyle Stanley (The National) returns for the first time since 2013; D.A. Points (Puerto Rico) last played in 2014. … Thomas, Spieth (2016) and Johnson (2013) are the only former Kapalua champions in the field. … The 34-man roster matches the most in the past 15 years to come to the winners-only tournament. The 2007, ’11 and ’15 editions also featured 34 players. FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. STORYLINES: Thomas, who last year joined Ernie Els (2003) as the only men to sweep the Hawaii double, seeks an unprecedented third straight victory in the islands. For what it’s worth, Els won three in a span of four starts, repeating as the Sony Open champion in 2004. … Thomas would become the TOC’s first back-to-back winner since Geoff Ogilvy in 2009-10. … Rickie Fowler hopes a hot 2017 finish can extend into the new year. Fowler captured the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, three weeks after almost repeating at the OHL Classic. … The Tournament of Champions actually dates back to 1953, with Gene Littler winning three of the first five editions. Jack Nicklaus won it four times. COURSE: Plantation Course at Kapalua, 7,452 yards, par 73. Located at the foot of the West Maui mountains, the Plantation course opened in 1991 as one of the first projects by the team of Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore. The course offers some of the most breathtaking views found all season, with gentle trade winds allowing the winner to approach 20-under par over four days. Sometimes, though, the course’s exposure to the elements can flirt with the extreme, evidenced by a wind-whipped 2013 edition that required a Tuesday finish. 72-HOLE RECORD: 261, Ernie Els (2003). 18-HOLE RECORD: 62, K.J. Choi (3rd round, 2003), Graeme McDowell (4th round, 2011), Jason Day (4th round, 2015), Chris Kirk (4th round, 2015). LAST YEAR: What first shaped up as a back-nine cruise for Thomas required a little more work than expected, eventually holding off Hideki Matsuyama’s late charge to notch his first TOUR victory on U.S. soil. Thomas held a five-shot advantage with five holes to play, only to see the margin quickly close to one when Matsuyama holed a flop shot for eagle at Kapalua’s 14th and Thomas double bogeyed No.15. After Matsuyama missed a birdie chance at No.16 that would have tied it, Thomas took matters back into his own hands. Facing 214 yards to the 17th pin, he striped an 8-iron that came to rest 3 feet from the flagstick for birdie and a two-shot edge. It was Thomas’ third PGA TOUR win, with the previous two having taken place in Malaysia. HOW TO FOLLOW TELEVISION: Thursday-Friday, 6-10 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday, 3-7 p.m. (GC). Sunday, 6-10 p.m. (GC). PGA TOUR LIVE: PGA TOUR LIVE returns Jan. 19 at the CareerBuilder Challenge RADIO: Thursday-Friday, 4-10 p.m. Saturday, 2-7 p.m. Sunday, 5-10 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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SOUTHAMPTON, Bermuda — Seamus Power knows the wind and Port Royal well enough to realize he’d better do his scoring early. He did just that Saturday, added a few birdies late and had another 6-under 65 to share the lead with Ben Griffin in the Butterfield Bermuda Championship. Power holed a 30-foot birdie putt on the daunting par-3 16th and made a 12-foot birdie on the par-5 17th to atone for his lone mistake, a double bogey on the par-3 13th. Griffin followed the same script in a strong wind with three birdies to open his round. He kept his approach under the wind on the 18th to 5 feet for birdie and a 66. They were at 18-under 195, two shots clear of Kevin Yu (67) and Aaron Baddeley (68). Power is the highest-ranked player at Port Royal. The 35-year-old Irishman is no stranger to windy conditions and has played the Bermuda Championship the last few years. “I knew I had to get birdies before 11,” Power said. He made four in a row early and was 6 under for the day until a missed green and bad chips led to a double bogey on the 13th. “One mistake. The wind drifted it a crazy amount,” Power said. “But I was able to hang in there and it puts me in a good spot going to tomorrow.” The 16th is the toughest tee because the green is just right of the ocean and the wind was ripping from left to right. “I don’t know how comfortable you get when you get to 16 and you’re having to aim your ball in the ocean,” Power said with a laugh. The shot finished pin-high on the right side of the green to a left flag, and the putt crept in the low side of the hole. Power has one PGA TOUR victory, the Barbasol Championship in Kentucky last year. He would love nothing more than a win for a strong early start to the FedExCup and to assure his spot in the Masters. For Griffin, even more as at stake. He gave up on the game a few years ago and was working as a loan mortgage officer when he was inspired playing in a member-guest, and the members put up money for him to Monday qualify into a Korn Ferry Tour event. That was the start of baby steps — making it through Korn Ferry Tour qualifying, and then last year earning his full card onto the PGA TOUR. A victory Sunday comes with a two-year exemption. “It’s been surreal really the last year and two months of just being comfortable on the golf course and just going out and trying to win,” Griffin said. “When you’re playing mini-tour events and you’re trying to grind for top 10 just to break even, just have enough money to maybe do a Monday qualifier, it’s not necessarily the easiest in terms. “Now that I have this little bit of freedom, I can go out there and just try to win golf tournaments.” Ben Crane, whose last win was in 2014, started the third round with a one-shot lead and stumbled down the closing stretch with four bogeys in a five-hole stretch before he birdied the last hole for a 73. He fell six shots behind.

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Miguel Angel Jimenez won the Boeing Classic on Sunday for his third PGA Tour Champions victory of the season, closing with a 5-under 67 to hold off David McKenzie by two strokes.

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