Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas Lead Driver Distance Derby at Sentry TOC

Dustin Johnson leads a powerhouse field – literally – at the bomber’s paradise, the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

Dustin Johnson and Justin Thomas lead the list of long-driving PGA Tour players who head to Kapalua. They are probably thrilled to be there, because it’s a no cut week in a tropical paradise with luxury accommodations. Plus, they get a great chance to their hit drives for miles. And who doesn’t like to see their tee ball go forever? We all do, and pros are no different.

If you want to start long ball stats for 2018, there’s no better place to do that than Kapalua. You can start by counting the number of drives that go more than 400 yards. Then go down to 390 and then 380.

If last year is any guide, we can expect to see at least 10, 400-plus-yard drives hit at Kapalua. If the weather is good, no rain and no gale force winds, Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson together are likely to hit a half-dozen longer than 400-yards. If you decide to count drives down to 380 yards, you are likely to have to use both your fingers and toes and those of more than a foursome of buddies.

Last year at Kapalua, Johnson had three longer than 400 yards, and Thomas had two. They haven’t gotten any shorter over the last 12 months.

It used to be that the 18^th hole was THE place for the longest drives all year. The 18^th is that 663-yard, severe downhill, par 5. But long drives don’t just happen at that hole anymore. And they aren’t just at Kapalua.

Last year Johnson hit one 428 yards at Sentry at the 18th. However, he also belted one 409 at the 12^th and 404 at the 17^th. It seems Johnson doesn’t get up in the morning in Hawaii without a 400 potential in his tee ball arsenal.

Justin Thomas isn’t far behind. His longest at Kapalua last year was 409 on the 7^th hole, and his second longest was 404 yards at the 17^th hole.

Thomas has previously said that while he loves the distance, it’s not the only thing that’s important.

"“I would love to start hitting more fairways and that’s something I’ve really been working hard on,” he said in a pre-Christmas interview arranged by the PGA Tour. “I’m going to continue to work on that,”"

Of the top 30 longest drives last year, 10 of them came at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. In addition to Johnson and Thomas, there were long drives hit by Tony Finau – 406 yards at the 12^th – and Brendan Steele, Brian Stuard and Cody Gribble. The last three were a mere 398 yards. Gribble’s and Steele’s were at the 7^th, and Stuard’s was at the 17^th hole.

Steele, Stuard and Gribble were T-30 in longest drives along with Rickie Fowler and Charl Schwartzel. Fowler’s long drive came in the 16^th at Firestone, not at Kapalua. Schwartzel’s was at the WGC Mexico at the 9^th hole.

Of all of the 400-plus-yard drives in 2017, 12 of them were on the 16^th hole at Firestone CC in the WGC-Bridgestone. The other eight were spread around different tournaments.

If you are serious in counting long drives and you want to go all the way down to 390-yard and longer drives, there were 58 of them in total, just remember, 17 of those were at Kapalua last year.

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Dropping (gasp) down to 380 yards, there were 142 drives on a variety of courses. Because guys are hitting the ball so far these days, you can’t even go down to 375 yards on PGA Tour.com anymore. Their web site stops at 187 drives of 377 yards or better.

What a cut off! Who would have thought that the lowest listed drive on the Tour web site would have been at 377 yards? That’s 70 yards longer than the longest driving average on the PGA Tour in 1997 which was 302 yards, according to the 1998 PGA Tour Media guide. The holder of that distance mark? John Daly.

Now, actually, the Tour tracks all the drives and they do have an in-house chart about 997 of the longest drives for the year which cuts off at 331 yards. That’s amazing. Nearly 1000 drives of 331 yards or more. Most likely the folks at PGATour.com got tired of making all the extra entries. So, 997 drives last year of 331 yards or longer. Remember that for a moment.

Next: 2018 can be Phil Mickelson's year at the U.S. Open

The player with the longest drive ever from 1980-1997 on the PGA Tour was John Daly with a poke of 331.4 yards. So last year, that distance was good for 187^th place of all long drives and 20 years ago, it was the longest drive that had ever been hit. (Source: 1998 PGA tour Media Guide)

Welcome to 2018 and the new version of the PGA Tour distance derby at Kapalua.

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