There is a whole lot to like about being in the field at the Sentry Tournament of Champions: the chance to spend New Year’s in Hawaii, competing for a $6.5 million purse with no cut and more than $1.25 million to the winner, playing in Hawaii at Kapalua Resort, guaranteed FedEx Cup points as well as some pretty decent World Rankings points. Oh, and did we mention playing in Hawaii (can you tell we’re from the Northeast, where temperatures and the recent weather have looked nothing like Hawaii).
Suffice it say, the conditions were good enough for 34 of the 37 eligible players for event where only winners from the 2018 calendar year.
The only holdouts: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson and Justin Rose. Woods hasn’t played at Kapalua since 2005, despite being eligible seven times after that—and despite having won the tournament twice, including in 2000 at the Bill Coore/Ben Crenshaw course in an epic showdown with Ernie Els. Similarly, Mickelson is skipping the event for the 13th straight time that he has being eligible. His last appearance in the event came in 2001.
As for those who are making the trip, here is the entire field where Dustin Johnson will be defending his title (and trying to win for a third time in his career) after a convincing eight-stroke victory a year ago.
Keegan Bradley
Paul Casey
Cameron Champ*
Jason Day
Bryson DeChambeau
Brice Garnett*
Billy Horschel
Charles Howell III
Dustin Johnson
Micheal Kim*
Patton Kizzire
Satoshi Kodaira*
Brooks Koepka
Matt Kuchar
Andrew Landry*
Marc Leishman
Rory McIlroy
Troy Merritt
Francesco Molinari
Kevin Na
Scott Piercy
Ted Potter, Jr.
Ian Poulter
Andrew Putnam*
Jon Rahm
Patrick Reed
Xander Schauffele
Webb Simpson
Brandt Snedeker
Justin Thomas
Kevin Tway*
Bubba Watson
Aaron Wise*
Gary Woodland
*—first-time players at the TOC
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