Tournament of Champions: Sleeper Picks to win in Hawaii

The Sentry Tournament of Champions gets us back in the swing of things for the 2020 PGA Tour season, as the winners throughout the last year head to Hawaii for some golf.

In case you aren’t familiar with the Sentry Tournament of Champions, it is an event where only the golfers who have won over the last 12 months are invited. Out of the 40 winners, 34 of them are here to play this year.

Sorry to those hoping to see Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Rory McIlroy, Brooks Koepka, Shane Lowry, or Justin Rose. They aren’t going to be making the trip this year.

There are some incredible golfers there, as is usually the case. Jon Rahm is favored to win, although Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele are close on his heels.

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That isn’t the point of this article though. If you are interested in who we all think is going to win, you can check out the predictions from some of the staff members here at Pro Golf Now. I want to look at the sleepers, the long shots, the dark horses who could make a run at the title this week at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

We are going to set the cutoff at +5000 (or 50/1), meaning that we are eliminating 14 of the 34 golfers for the purposes of this article.

There are still some incredible choices left, and let’s get started with a couple of people who come in right at the line of +5000.

Kevin Na: +5000

Kevin Na got here by winning not just the Charles Schwab, but by also winning the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open. This is why the placement of the Tournament of Champions is a bit odd. Na did win two events, but they came in two different PGA Tour seasons. If he finishes out the 2020 season without another win and follows it up by not winning on the fall swing next year, he wouldn’t be invited back to this event next time.

The strongest part of his game comes around the green. Last season he ranked 7th in SG, saving .355 shots per round. If he can continue to putt well, as he currently ranks 2nd through 10 measured rounds, Na has a legitimate shot to get his 3rd win in the last 12 months.

Joaquin Niemann: +5000

Niemann started off the 2020 PGA Tour season by obliterating the field at the Greenbrier, winning by six strokes. He’s been quite good off the tee as well as on approach shots, both in 2019 and 2020. He was 35th and 25th last year and is 34th and 26th this year. It seems like a nice consistent approach that deserves higher odds than +5000, which is why I like Niemann this week.

Dylan Frittelli: +6000

Frittelli joined the club, getting his first career win at the John Deere Classic last season. He has played pretty well this season, finishing with a T-6th, T-7th, and T-11th in his top three events. For Frittelli, he is going to need a strong week of putting, something that often evades him. Last year, he was 140th in SG. Everything else is strong, as he finished 46th off the tee, 66th on approach, and 50th around the green.

Sebastian Munoz: +6600

Munoz got his win only a few months ago, winning the Sanderson Farms Championship in late September. He almost earned a second win at the RSM Classic, where he finished 3rd. A large part of his success this season comes from his all-around consistency. His worst SG stat is putting at 73rd.

Sung-hoon Kang: +12500

Sung-hoon Kang got his first career win on the PGA Tour at the AT&T Byron Nelson back in May. His game is rounding back into form just in time for the Tournament of Champions, as he has placed better at each event he has made the cut in this year. From T-47th, to T-29th, to T-26th, and most recently a T-17th. There are few that have worse odds than he does this week, but I like him to continue his streak of improving finishes, and finish in the top five this week.

That will do it for this week’s sleeper picks for the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Make sure to check back in throughout the week for updates on all the action from Hawaii.