Hyundai Tournament of Champions January 6-9

Golf action begins in earnest this week with the Hyundai Tournament of Champions from the Plantation Course at Kapalua in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii. The total purse is $5.6 million with a winning share of $1.2 million and a total of 500 FedExCup points at stake. A total of 28 players will participate in the PGA Tour’s opening tournament.

There will be three top ten finishers from last year’s FedExCup standings in the event with (1) Bill Haas, (2) Webb Simpson, and (9) Nick Watney. On the top 10 money list from last year comes the addition of (4) KJ Choi, (8) Steve Stricker, and (10) David Toms. Last year’s winner of the event, Jonathan Byrd, will also be on hand. Stricker is ranked 6th on the Official World Golf Ranking and Simpson is ranked 10th.

There is a reason for the short number on the field and that is because the Hyundai Tournament of Champions is the most difficult event on the PGA Tour to qualify for and that makes for a near perfect setting at the gorgeous Plantation Course. It is also a rare tournament that starts on a Friday rather than a Thursday. The Hyundai Tournament of Champions is a winner’s only event that had a total of just 39 golfers who were eligible to participate.

Kapalua is a par 73 and has a tour high 8000 square feet of greens and the object of the game is to have a good enough of a game to take advantage of all of the green space and shoot for birdies.

With that type of game in mind, Gary Woodland seems to be an ideal candidate to take advantage of the Plantation Course layout with a game that is both long and precise. He comes into action this weekend having finished in the top 10 in 7 of his last 10 tournaments.

One of the favorites in golf betting for this weekend’s event is Webb Simpson who is considered to be one of the up and coming young golfers. Also in the mix could be Nick Watney who is a two time winner of this event and was the regular season leader in FedExCup points last year. And of course Bill Haas has to be among the favorites as the defending FedExCup champion. Last year he finished an impressive 8th at Kapalua in his first ever try at the event.