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Tournament of Champions: What to know for 1st TOUR event of 2023

Tracy Wilcox / PGA TOUR / Getty

After a brief winter break, the PGA TOUR returns for the new year with the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

Although it's not the beginning of a new season, 2023 will usher in a new look for the TOUR. This week's tournament in Maui will be the first of 17 events that promise larger purses and fields consisting of the TOUR's top stars.

This 39-player field will feature a purse of $15 million - a $6.8-million increase from last year - and 550 FedEx Cup points.

When: Jan. 5-8
Where: Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii

How to watch

DATE TIME (ET) CHANNEL
Thursday 6-10 p.m. Golf Channel
Friday 6-10 p.m. Golf Channel
Saturday 4-6 p.m. NBC
6-8 p.m. Golf Channel
Sunday 4-6 p.m. NBC
6-8 p.m. Golf Channel

Last year's result

Ben Jared / PGA TOUR / Getty

Cameron Smith shot two rounds of 65 and two of 64 to clinch the Tournament of Champions by one stroke over Jon Rahm. Smith's score of 34-under was a record low on TOUR in a 72-hole event. It would be the first of three wins on TOUR in 2022 for Smith, who went on to win The Players Championship and the Open Championship before joining LIV Golf. Shortly after his departure, he won LIV Golf's Chicago tournament.

Matt Jones rounded out the top three of last year's leaderboard, finishing two strokes back at 32-under. There was a significant drop after that, as Patrick Cantlay finished alone in fourth, eight strokes back at 26-under. Daniel Berger, Collin Morikawa, and Justin Thomas were the next group at 25-under in a tie for fifth.

Recent winners

2022: Cameron Smith (-34) over Jon Rahm
2021: Harris English (-25) in a playoff over Joaquin Niemann
2020: Justin Thomas (-14) in a playoff over Patrick Reed, Xander Schauffele
2019: Xander Schauffele (-23) over Gary Woodland
2018: Dustin Johnson (-24) over Jon Rahm
2017: Justin Thomas (-22) over Hideki Matsuyama
2016: Jordan Spieth (-30) over Patrick Reed
2015: Patrick Reed (-21) in a playoff over Jimmy Walker
2014: Zach Johnson (-19) over Jordan Spieth

The field

Ben Jared / PGA TOUR / Getty

This year's Tournament of Champions field consists of 2022 TOUR winners and members of the top 30 from last season's FedEx Cup rankings. Four-time 2022 TOUR winner Scottie Scheffler is the top-ranked player in the field as the World No. 2.

Will Zalatoris is back for the first time since the BMW Championship in mid-August following a back injury. The 26-year-old is one of many players making their tournament debut, including Tom Kim, Matthew Fitzpatrick, and Cameron Young, among others.

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy and No. 3 Smith are the only two players in the world's top 10 not in the field this week. Along with defending champion Smith, 2021 winner Harris English also won't make an appearance. That leaves Thomas (2020) as the next most-recent champion making the trip to Hawaii.

Featured groups (all times ET)

Group: Collin Morikawa, Tony Finau
Thursday - 2:55 p.m. (No. 1 tee)

Group: Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim
Thursday - 5:25 p.m. (No. 1 tee)

The course

Andy Lyons / Getty Images Sport / Getty

The Plantation Course at Kapalua is a 7,596-yard par 73 located in Maui. This year marks the 25th time the Tournament of Champions is being played on the course.

The course was designed by Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore and opened in 1991. It was then redesigned in 2019. Smith holds the 72-hole record with his 34-under last year, while Rahm, Thomas, and Jones hold the 18-hole record of 61, each shooting it separately in 2022.

Betting corner

Jon Rahm +600
Scottie Scheffler +900
Justin Thomas +1100
Xander Schauffele +1100
Patrick Cantlay +1200
Tony Finau +1400
Collin Morikawa +1600
Cameron Young +2000
Matthew Fitzpatrick +2000
Sungjae Im +2000
Viktor Hovland +2000
Hideki Matsuyama +2800
Jordan Spieth +2800
Sam Burns +2800
Tom Kim +2800
Will Zalatoris +2800

Odds via theScore Bet

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