SBS Tournament of Champions - Preview

SBS Tournament of Champions

Plantation Course at Kapalua, Hawaii

Thursday Jan 5th - Sunday Jan 8th, 2016

by David Barwise

photo: pgatour.com

We’re back!! And so is one of our favourite events – the big ol’ fancy pants winners-only  Tournament of Champions.

The Course

Wide fairways, short rough, as-you-find-them greens. It would be easy to slate Kapalua for offering a course lacking in fight (ranked easiest on the PGA Tour). But when you remember the event is essentially just a showcase for the best and brightest players from the past 12 months, you see the value in the PGA making them look good. Also just look at the place, it’s one of the most stunning venues on tour.

The Field

The ToC supposedly boasts the highest-flying PGA field of the season, as it is only open to winners from 2016. At the time of writing, the 32-man field holds six of the world top 10. US Open and PGA Championship title holders, Dustin Johnson and Jimmy Walker, will be descending on Hawaii along with world number one Jason Day and defending champ Jordan Spieth.

Typical of the event, there have been dropouts. There will be no appearances from Olympic champion Justin Rose, FedExCup holder Rory McIlroy and Open Champion Henrik Stenson.

photo: jordanspieth.com

Last Year

The Jordan Spieth show. This wasn’t the Texan at his very best, but rather 72 holes without fault. Almost every approach stuck, and his trademark putting didn’t disappoint. An extraordinary 30-under saw him outclass the field, beating Patrick Reed by eight strokes.

James Hahn, who has qualified again for this year’s tournament, finished joint last in 2016.

Spotlight

The outcome of who wins and who doesn’t isn’t really the story this week. The question is... if someone wins will they win BIG? Spieth’s mind-boggling score last year only fell short of Ernie Els’ record (in the same event) by a single stroke. There is enough class in the field to set another tasty score, but how low can they go?

Prediction

For most people the favourite will naturally be Jordan Spieth. He’s got a brilliant record at Kapalua in the past and you can never discount a reigning champ.

But for me, it’s impossible to look past Hideki Matsuyama. If we look at his recent form, he’s unbeatable. In his last event of the year, he beat Henrik Stenson (who is in the form of his life) by two strokes to claim the Hero World Challenge. Add on to that his five worldwide victories in 2016, he’s the one to beat.