- Jon Rahm has opened as the betting favorite to win the 2023 Sentry Tournament of Champions.
- Rahm finished second behind Cam Smith’s record-breaking -34 score at this tournament last year.
- Scottie Scheffler at +950 can reclaim the no. 1 spot in the Official World Golf Rankings by finishing solo third or better.
The PGA Tour’s 2022-23 season opened last September but with the Sentry Tournament of Champions being the first event of 2023, it is the unofficial start to the season.
8 out of the Top 10 golfers in the Official World Golf Rankings and 17 out of the Top 20 are in the field that will tee it up at The Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii beginning Thursday.
World no. 5 Jon Rahm has opened as the +700 betting favorite to win the tournament at the BetOnline App. Given his history in the event, it’s no surprise why he is the oddsmakers’ choice to win this year.
Cam Smith Topples Jon Rahm
34 under!?! Cam Smith topples Jon Rahm, smashes scoring record in Hawaii – https://t.co/pcS8Jt1z4E https://t.co/OXylZLrAij
— Hawaii Travel News (@Hawaii_travels) January 10, 2022
Rahm finished last year’s event at 33-under par. That score would have won the tournament in any other year except 2022. Last year, Cam Smith toppled Rahm in a record-breaking performance which began his incredible 2022. Smith won’t be here to defend his title because he is still suspended by the Tour for his involvement with LIV Golf.
In his last five appearances at this tournament, the current world no. 5 has not finished worse than 10th and has two second-place finishes, including the tough loss to Smith last year. Rahm is also playing well as of late, as he ended the calendar year 2022 with a pair of wins on the DP World Tour – first at the Acciona Open de Espana, then at the season-ending DP World Tour Championship.
Rahm’s last three PGA events have also produced Top 10 finishes. He was a T2 at the BMW PGA Championship, T4 at the CJ Cup in South Carolina, and a T8 in his most recent event at the Hero World Challenge at the Albany Golf Club during the first week of December.
With Rory Skipping the Tournament, Scottie Scheffler Can Jump Back into the No. 1 Spot
With Rory skipping the Sentry Tournament of Champions, Scottie Scheffler can jump back into the top spot.
— Golf Digest (@GolfDigest) January 2, 2023
With Rory McIlroy taking the week off, Scottie Scheffler has the opportunity to get back to the top of the OWGR rankings with a solo third finish or better. Scheffler entered the 2022 season without a win but ended the year with four, including a green jacket. The 26-year-old finished two strokes behind Viktor Hovland in the last tournament of 2022 at the Hero World Challenge and has the second-best odds to win this weekend at +950 odds.
Justin Thomas and Xander Schauffele are next at +1000 odds apiece. Thomas is a perennial favorite here at Kapalua as he has two wins, two third-place finishes, and one Top 5 finish in his last six appearances. Meanwhile, Schauffele has finished outside the Top 20 just once in his last 13 starts, including solo 4th at the Hero World Challenge.
Patrick Cantlay has the fifth-best odds to win at +1100 and he is another player who has performed well at The Plantation Course. He has two fourth-place finishes sandwiching a 13th-place finish in the last three years and plays well in all areas needed to play well at this golf course. Tony Finau has won three out of his last seven starts and is listed at +1500 to win at Kapalua.
