The Sentry Golf Guide, Odds And Picks As PGA Tees Off New Year

Posted by Admin December 30, 2024 Golf

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A field of 60 PGA pros tee it up in Lahaina, Hawaii for the 2025 Sentry Jan. 2-5, formerly known as … [+] the Sentry Tournament of Champions. (Photo by Harry How/Getty Images)

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Aloha and welcome back to another season on the PGA Tour. The New Year begins in Hawaii, and for the third consecutive year The Sentry will be held with an expanded field. No longer a winners-only tournament for last year’s champions, the 2025 Sentry field of 60 includes top golfers and qualifiers from the top 50 in the previous season’s FedExCup points list.

This year’s players and odds are below as provided by leading online sportsbooks. Notably absent is World No. 1 and 2024 PGA Tour Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler, who suffered a hand injury at home Christmas Day and will miss up to a month of competitive golf to start the new year.

On Tuesday and Wednesday each week ahead of the tournaments starting on Thursday, tee times and TV/streaming, featured groups, player matchups and additional information you can bet on are provided.

Golf Course

The coastal Plantation Course in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii is perched above the Pacific Ocean and is a rare and unique Par 73 that plays to nearly 7,600 yards with the widest fairways on Tour. The tournament is a no-cut format covering 72 holes in four days. Get ready for plenty of birdies as players fire for flags with long drives, aggressive play and impressively low scoring on oversized bermuda greens (8,722 sq. ft) that are well above Tour average size.

The course is adjacent to the Pu’u Kukui Watershed Preserve, the largest natural preserve in Hawaii at more than 9,000 acres. Dry weather during late November and early December required much more hand watering than normal to maintain playing surfaces.

A Hole-By-Hole Guide To Kapalua’s Famed Plantation Course On Maui

The 17th hole is a long Par 4 sitting at the highest elevation on the course from the tee (512 feet). A dramatic downhill slope with expansive ocean views, often including sights of Molokai and the West Maui Mountains, make it a visually stunning tee shot on a challenging hole.

The Plantation course was revamped ahead of the 2020 tournament. The winning scores have been -14, -25, -34, -27 and -29 under par last year by huge longshot Chris Kirk (200/1), who won and held off Sahith Theegala (-28), Jordan Spieth (-28) and 2023 runner-up Collin Morikawa (-25).

Near 80 degree temperatures and winds 10-20 mph are in the forecast in Maui. Low scores will drive rhe action, and the 72-hole winning score is projected to be about 265.5 once posted at the leading online sportsbooks.

The Plantation Course at Kapalua has had the easiest scoring average on the PGA Tour each of the last four years covering more than 50 courses each year.

How to watch The Sentry And Field

Fans can watch streaming coverage of The Sentry on ESPN+.

Thursday-Friday: 6-10 p.m. ET on Golf Channel and NBC Sports App
Saturday-Sunday: 4-6 p.m. NBC and Peacock, 6-8 p.m. Golf Channel

This year’s Sentry field includes 31 PGA Tour winners from 2024. The additional 29 players qualified from their ranking in the FedExCup standings, according to the Tour.

The Sentry Tournament of Champions is the first of eight signature events on the season. The purse is $20 million, and the winner receives $3,600,000 to the winner.

10 Players To Watch In 2025

Before you watch, wager and fire away on the favorites in Hawaii, or other events each week, know that longshot Chris Kirk (200/1) cashed-in to win last year’s Sentry event. What followed through the opening three months of the season was mid-ranged to longshots winning far more than the leading favorites priced with odds of 25/1 or less.

Odds to Win

Opening round pairings, tee times and current odds to win the Sentry along with top finishing position, courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook. Golf odds refresh periodically and are subject to change, including on props and live betting.

Types of bets and how to read the odds

+500: Xander Schauffele (last year +1400)
+1000: Collin Morikawa, Justin Thomas
+1800: Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im, Ludvig Aberg
+2000: Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay
+2800: Sam Burns
+3000: Corey Conners, Sahith Theegala, Tony Finau
+3500: Byeong Hun An, Adam Scott
+4000: Wyndham Clark, Akshay Bhatia, Robert MacIntyre, Russell Henley
+4500: Cameron Young, Max Greyserman, Davis Thompson, J.T. Poston
+5000: Keegan Bradley, Jason Day, Maverick McNealy
+5500: Brian Harman, Taylor Pendrith, Si Woo Kim
+6000: Alex Noren
+6500: Will Zalatoris, Max Homa, Matt Fitzpatrick
+7000: Chris Kirk,
+7500: Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Billy Horschel
+8000: Nick Dunlap, Austin Eckroat, Eric Cole, Denny McCarthy
+9000: Sepp Straka, Aaron Rai, Harry Hall

Other big longshots to win from +10000 to +20000 include:

Stephan Jaeger, Nico Echavarria, Thomas Detry, Cam Davis, Matt McCarty, Adam Hadwin, Tom Hoge, Jhonattan Vegas, Kevin Yu, Nick Taylor, Patton Kizzire, Jake Knapp

This year’s Sentry favorite Xander Schauffele won the event in 2019 and was runner-up in 2020. He was +1400 to win last year, and he finished 10th (-24) before going on to a spectacular season with two major wins and consistently contending.

How To Understand Golf Betting Statistics And Strokes Gained

Live, interactive in-play golf betting is more available and becoming widely popular at sites like FanDuel Sportsbook, where golf fans and bettors in more than 20 states can add more ways to win with in-play betting on golf.

The PGA Tour has also added a free-to-play, fantasy golf game for 2025. It’s a fun game for fans to discover or deepen their engagement with the PGA Tour and use their golf knowledge to pick a team of six players each week to compete against their friends and fellow fans. Prizes are offered courtesy of the PGA Tour Superstore.

“PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf stays true to what fans have loved about the previous version, but with fresh components that will no doubt bring an elevated experience for both new users and longtime fans,” said Scott Warfield, PGA TOUR Vice President, Gaming.

Golf Picks

Weekly golf picks are updated each Week Tuesday and Wednesday as selected golf analysts, handicappers and noted golf media provide selections and additional information you can bet on.

Think there will hole-in-one (Yes +240) or a playoff in the Sentry event? You can bet on it.

Golf Guide

Sal Johnson, the founder of GolfStats, has added more insight and stats for the 2025 PGA Tour season including in his weekly tournament preview and the opening Sentry.

Next week its the new golf league and first season of the TGL headed by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

A recap of the PGA Tour top stories of 2024 leads golf fans and bettors into 2025 with historic seasons from Player of the Year Scottie Scheffler and 2-time major winner Xander Schauffele along with Nick Dunlap, who became the first amateur to win on the PGA Tour since 1991 winning the American Express on his way to PGA Tour Rookie of the Year honors.

More memorable moments, inspiring stories and birdies ahead as fans fire for more fairways and greens in pursuit of profit while watching and wagering on golf.

You can bet on it.