Hyundai Tournament of Champions Power Rankings
By Sam Belden
Patrick Reed’s the defending champ at Kapalua but who will he need to outplay this year to make it back-to-back wins?
After about a month-and-a-half of relative inactivity, the PGA Tour will make its return next week at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Played at Kapalua’s Plantation Course since 1999, it’s been held during the first week of January for years now and serves as a welcome sign that top-level golf will be on our television screens for the foreseeable future. It’s part of the PGA Tour’s Hawaii Swing, along with the Sony Open, which comes next on the calendar.
The Tournament of Champions is unlike any other tournament on the PGA Tour–the only way to qualify is by winning an official event in 2015 (that includes the fall tournaments, which technically are 2016 events). Thus, the field will run the gamut from established stars to ascending rookies to journeyman types, and non-winning stars, like Adam Scott and Hideki Matsuyama, are out of luck. It also provides an excellent opportunity to notch another win, as the field only rarely exceeds 35 players.
Two features of Kapalua stand out: the breathtaking views and the booming drives. Built on a beautiful piece of land flanked by the West Maui Mountains on one side and the Pacific Ocean on the other, there might not be a more aesthetically pleasing course in the PGA Tour’s rotation (although the folks at Pebble Beach might have something to say about that). Furthermore, the Plantation Course is a par-73 behemoth with a ton of downhill holes and excellent opportunities to go long–almost half of the 24 400-yard drives on the PGA Tour last year came on the Plantation Course.
One more thing to note about next week’s event: it’s going to start on Friday and end on Monday (in order to keep it from going up against the NFL playoff games scheduled for the same day). Without further ado, let’s go ten deep. Here are the best bets for success at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.
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Golf Channel will provide live coverage and ProGolfNow will provide ongoing commentary and updates for the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.