2024 Sentry Tournament of Champions: Top 10 power rankings at Kapalua
The PGA Tour begins its two-week Hawaiian swing at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Golf Power Rank (2). 2. OWGR: 1st. 2022-23 FedEx Cup: T-6th. Scottie Scheffler
Scottie Scheffler is looking to continue his improvement at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. He debuted in 2021 with a T-13th finish (70-66-70-69) and ended up T-7th (66-66-69-70) last year.
“I think it's fun to play,” Scheffler was transcribed by ASAP Sports in 2023 describing Kapalua.
"I think you got to get creative out here, hitting a lot of different shots and kind of working your angles around the place and staying out of trouble."
- Scottie Scheffler
Scheffler never really contended last year at Kapalua, nor did any one statistical category loom over the others. He just played his steady, consistent golf. He finished top-20 in all strokes gained categories and made no double bogeys or worse for the week.
The former Texas Longhorn won the last time he teed it up at the Hero World Challenge. Scheffler carded 69-66-65-68 to win the elite 20-player event by three shots.
It had to feel good for the top-ranked player in the world who hadn’t hoisted a trophy since prevailing at the Players Championship in March. Scheffler finished 2023 with three wins, with the other coming at the WM Phoenix Open.
The 27-year-old ended last season ranked first on the PGA Tour in Strokes Gained: Total (2.314), SG: Off-the-Tee (1.021) and SG: Approach (1.194). He was “only” fifth in SG: Around-the-Green (.399).
It was plain to see the clear deficiency was with the flat stick. He’s addressed this issue by implementing a new putting coach, Phil Kenyon.
Scheffler doesn’t need to be a world-beater on the greens. Just getting closer to his rank of 58th in 2021-22 would be enough to turn his three wins last year into six, seven or more.