January 6, 2022 - Digital Sports Desk

Kapalua, Hawaii – The PGA Tour season resumes with the Sentry Tournament of Champions. The first event of 2022 comes after a six week break on the schedule for the holidays and some silly season activities. PGA Tour event winners from the 2021 calendar year along with 2020 Olympic gold medalist Xander Schauffele will tee-it-up at Kapalua (in Maui) today.

The field includes reigning FedExCup Champion Patrick Cantlay (making season debut), World Nos. 1 and 2 Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa, and current FedEx Cup points leader Talor Gooch. In addition, 2021 PGA Championship winner Phil Mickelson will make his first start in the Sentry Tournament of Champions since 2001 (T28). All four major champions are represented this week.

Watch the Birdie: The par-5 fifth hole at Kapalua was the easiest hole on the PGA Tour last season relative to par, with an average score of 4.095 (-0.905) and had the lowest average score relative to par of any hole on TOUR since the 2005 FUNAI Classic at the Walt Disney World Resort.

Ten players in the Sentry field are making their Tournament of Champions debut.

The Basics:

With the limited field and the time zone adjustment to Hawaii, the Sentry Tee Times start today at 9:40am (local)/2:40pm (ET) and going to 12:45pm (local)/5:45pm (ET).

Cameron Champ withdrew from the Sentry after testing positive for COVID-19, the Tour announced Tuesday.

Weather: Today’s forecast calls for mostly sunny skies. Temperature 74-degrees, but humidity 75% with winds 13 mph NE. (link)

PGATourBrunch will post at Noon (ET) Friday.

Next Week: SONY Open in Hawaii – The Tour stays in Hawaii (link)

Sentry Tournament of Champions

COURSE: Plantation Course at Kapalua – (Maui, Hawaii)

ARCHITECTS: Bill Coore / Ben Crenshaw

YARDS/PAR: 7,596 yards/Par 73

PRIZE Money/First Place Winnings: $8,200,000/$1,476,000

DEFENDING CHAMPION: Harris English

PAST RESULTS: (link)

PAST CHAMPIONS: (link)

FEDEx CUP Points / to Winner: 500

SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @Sentry_TOC

OFFICIAL SITE: (Sentry TofC)

TV COVERAGE: This evening, January 6, and Friday, January 7: TV coverage goes from 6:00pm to 10:00pm (ET) on Golf Channel.

On Saturday, January 8, Round 3 coverage 6:00pm to 10:00pm (ET) on Golf Channel. On Sunday, January 9: NBC opens final round coverage 4:00pm to 6:00pm (ET) and Golf Channel wraps it up from 6:00pm to 8:00pm (ET)

PGA TOUR LIVE STREAMING on ESPN+: Streaming coverage will now be featured on ESPN-Plus, starting today at 3:15pm (ET) and continuing at 6:00pm (ET) with Featured Hole and Featured Groups. On Saturday, ESPN+ will stream coverage at 3:15am and 6:00pm (ET). On Sunday, ESPN+coverage is online at 1:30pm ET and 4:00pm ET.

Here’s the Scoop: (From official news release) – ESPN+ and PGA TOUR provided details for the inaugural season of PGA TOUR LIVE on ESPN+, with extended and expanded coverage that more than triples the total coverage – adding more than 3,200 new hours of live streaming available for a total of more than 4,300 exclusive hours. All PGA TOUR LIVE on ESPN+ coverage will be available to ESPN+’s more than 17.1 million subscribers.

In 2022, PGA TOUR LIVE on ESPN+ will include live coverage of 35 tournaments – from the Tour’s Hawaii events this month – all the way through the FedExCup Playoffs and into the Fall – with at least 28 events having four full days of coverage and four simultaneous live feeds each day.

PGA TOUR RADIO COVERAGE: SiriusXM Radio will have live radio coverage of the The Sentry with broadcasts from 4:00pm to 10:00pm (ET) today and Friday. Weekend coverage on Sirius XM Radio runs from 5:00pm to 10:00pm and from 3:00pm to 8:00pm (ET) on Sunday. PGA Tour Radio is available on Sirius 208/XM 92 or online via PGATour(dot)com.

On This Day in Golf History:

January 6, 1950 – Eleven months after nearly being killed in a head-on collision with a Greyhound bus, Ben Hogan returned to tournament golf when he teed-off at the Los Angeles Open. The Los Angeles Times reported that 9,000 fans were in the gallery to watch Hogan shoot a two-over par 73 in R-1. After 72 holes, Hogan lost in a playoff to Sam Snead. – Courtesy of Randy Walker, Author of On This Day in Golf History, available via Amazon.com and by clicking HERE

JAMAICA ESTATES, NY – (Staff report from Official News Release) – Villanova turned the tables on Creighton and gave coach Jay Wright a milestone victory, while St. John’s celebrated Lou Carnesecca’s 97^th birthday with a win over DePaul.

Wright notched his 500^th victory at Villanova when his team rolled past Creighton 75-41 in Finneran Paviliion. The Wildcats (10-4, 3-1 BIG EAST) had lost to the Bluejays (10-4, 2-1 BE) 79-59 on December 17. This time, Villanova held Creighton to 35.6 percent shooting from the field and allowed only 21 points in the final 27 minutes of the game. Justin Moore led the Wildcats with 22 points. Alex O’Connell had 13 points for Creighton.

On the night when legendary coach Lou Carnesecca turned 97, Julian Champagnie put on a sparkling performance to lead St. John’s (9-3, 1-0 BE) past DePaul 89-84. Champagnie scored a career-high 34 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked three shots. Dylan Addae-Wusu added a career-high 17 points, including a clutch 3-pointer in the final minute. Javon Freeman-Liberty had 24 points and seven boards for DePaul (9-4, 0-3 BE).

BIG EAST play resumes on Friday with two games between teams that met in the first round of last year’s BIG EAST Tournament. Marquette (9-6, 1-3 BE) plays at Georgetown (6-5, 0-0 BE) at 6:30 p.m. ET followed by No. 22 Xavier (11-2, 1-1 BE) at Butler (8-5, 1-1 BE) at 8:30 p.m. FS1 will carry both contests.

Last year, Marquette took the lone regular-season matchup against Georgetown before the Hoyas won 68-49 at the Big East tournament. Xavier won both regular-regular season games against Butler before the Bulldogs won 70-69 in overtime at Madison Square Garden.