Fantasy Golf Predictions
Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions – Sentry Tournament of Champions
Fantasy Golf Picks, Odds, and Predictions for the Sentry Tournament of Champions
Sentry Tournament of Champions Fantasy Preview
So, here we go again!
The new calendar year is finally upon us, and 2020 looks set to bring more drama, excitement and jaw-dropping play from the world of golf.
We begin, in now customary fashion, with the Tournament of Champions, which – as the name suggests – is an invite-only event open to those who have lifted a trophy during the previous 12 months.
As you can imagine, that lends itself to an eclectic field of major champions, PGA TOUR event winners and those who sneak in through the back door by winning an alternate tournament while the big boys are off elsewhere.
The field will, by necessity, spend their New Year’s Eve celebrations in Kapalua, Hawaii, which is a tremendous place to be ringing in the new year. However, who will take the holiday atmosphere quite literally, and who will be playing to win, when the action gets underway on Thursday?
Fall Season Fantasy Results
So far we’re off to a pretty great start. Our fantasy column picked four winners successfully in the 10 events of the fall season, with another 10% of our picks finishing in the Top 3, 24% in the Top 10, and 34% in the Top 25.
As we move into the “meat” of the season, where DFS jackpots begin climbing and fantasy leagues begin, make sure you sign up for our Fantasy Premium service to gain an advantage about the price of a Starbucks Latte.
Tools like our Key Fantasy Stats and Golficity Projected Fantasy Points (GPFP) will offer you that competitive edge. With ways to sort certain stats among only the field of that event, you’ll be able to find sort your rosters a lot easier.
The Sentry Tournament of Champions Field
In theory, the new year should get off to a bang when you think about the field of players that *could* enter the Tournament of Champions.
And while some have chosen not to make the trip, we can still enjoy a high-class selection of stars to take to the first tree.
Dustin Johnson will be making his first strokeplay start in what feels like an eternity, and the two-time champion here will be looking to make an early statement after returning from surgery.
The defending champion, Xander Schauffele, is in town as are former winners Justin Thomas and Patrick Reed, Jon Rahm, Rickie Fowler, Gary Woodland and Patrick Cantlay.
Another interesting entrant will be Brendon Todd, who won twice towards the end of 2019 and who will fancy the task of going well once more at a layout that should suit.
This Week’s Course Preview
We’re off to Kapalua this week, which serves up a unique challenge to the players: it’s one of the very few Par 73 tracks used on Tour.
Not that this is a long-distance shootout by any means: there’s still only four Par 5s, with the scorecard made up with eleven Par 4s.
It’s not a case of bombs way either, with driver used only sparingly here with elevation changes helping fire irons and rescue club tee shots a long way.
One of the key components of this Crenshaw & Coore design is the tight fairways, which while not flanked by thick rough still rewards those who can find the short stuff.
With Bermuda grass throughout, the large greens tend to run pure and help to turn the Tournament of Champions into something of a putting contest.
This is the classic coastal test which can often be besieged by ocean winds, not that that has affected the scoring here in recent times: the winning mark required here has ranged from -21 to -30 in the past five years.
Weather Forecast for Kapalua, Maui, HI
Hawaii in January is a beautiful combination, and the players will be treated with the weather to match this week.
Temperatures will range from 78-84°F, and the general description is of sunshine and the occasional cloudy spell throughout the four days of play.
The wind is a factor at Kapalua, and with predictions in the region of 14-20 mph the players will be buffeted a fair amount by the breeze.
Last Year’s Results for the Sentry Tournament of Champions
When a player finishes with a round of -11, it’s going to take something special to stop them.
And that was exactly the case here a year ago when Xander Schauffele, who has grown something of a penchant for winning golf tournaments, took Kapalua to the cleaners.
His final round of 62 could not be matched by anyone in the field, with Gary Woodland, with 68, doing little wrong in his quest to convert a healthy 54-hole position.
But how could he have coped with Schauffele, who incredibly bogeyed his first hole of the day before playing the rest of the front nine in -6.
His faultless golf continued on the back nine as he eagled the Par 4 twelfth before birdieing four of the last five holes to secure a one-shot win over Woodland.
Xander Schauffele’s winning highlights from Sentry 2019
In the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions, Xander Schauffele claimed his fourth victory on the PGA TOUR with rounds of 72-67-68-62 to finish at 23-under-par at Kapalua. SUBSCRIBE to PGA TOUR now: http://pgat.us/vBxcZSh 2019 starts with the Sentry Tournament of Champions, contested at Kapalua Resort’s Plantation Course on Maui.
Where to Play Fantasy Golf for Sentry Tournament of Champions this Week
Here we go with the first opportunity to make some DK Dollars in 2020! Okay, with its limited field the Tournament of Champions perhaps isn’t premium DraftKings real estate, but there’s still a chance here to make some early season cash.
- PGA $50k Birdie: It’s a basic premise: for a $3 stake, you can win up to $5k and there’s consolation prizes for the first 25% of players. Here’s a traditional bankroll builder to get the new campaign underway.
- PGA $400k Season Tee Off: For one week only, there’s a chance to win a cool $100k for just an $8 stake in this one-off contest. The top 10 finishers also win a minimum of $1k. What a handy way to start the year!
This Week’s Fantasy Notes for the Sentry Tournament of Champions
This is the first opportunity the players will get to dust off the cobwebs and compete for silverware in 2020, and while for some that will provide ample motivation for others it will still be a case of holiday mode – trying to ascertain who falls into which camp will be the key this week!
At least we have plenty of information to work with in building a profile of a likely winner.
This is classic coastal, almost resort-like golf, and we already have a shortlist of players who tend to perform well on these landscapes.
The big stick will be left in the bag on many occasions here too, so backing players who can thrive in such conditions – e.g. there’s no premium on length – is smart.
Comfort in the wind will also be key, as will the ability to hang in low scoring shootouts: it’s likely you will need at least -20 here to even get into the frame.
Previous form in Hawaii, both here and in the Sony Open, is welcomed too. After all, it reveals the players who are at home on the island but also those who tend to hit the ground running in January.
[membership level=”0″]
Our Top 5 (and Top 2 Sleeper) Fantasy Picks and Odds to Win the Sentry Tournament of Champions
You must be a Premium Member to view our exclusive fantasy golf picks.
Already a member? Sign in Here.
[/membership]
[membership level=”1,2,3″]
Top 5 Picks/Odds to Win the Sentry Tournament of Champions
Top Tier Pick:
Justin Thomas (Odds: 11/2, FPPG: 102.7, GPFP: 133.51 Salary: $11,200)
A Hawaii specialist who has barely been out of form in the past year, Justin Thomas is an auto lock this week.
He’s won twice in recent months at the BMW Championship and the CJ Cup, and recorded a number of top-10s in and around them. And while we’re not going to put too much stock into the Presidents Cup, JT played some outstanding golf in the USA’s victory there.
A former winner of this event and the Sony Open, Thomas clearly loves life in Hawaii and he’s more than capable of shooting stratospherically low numbers – crucial to success this week.
Key Stats:
- Birdie Average – 1st
- SG: Tee-to-Green – 2nd
- Scoring Average – 5th
Mid-Tier Pick #1:
Gary Woodland (Odds: 16/1, FPPG: 96.1, GPFP: 122.07 Salary: $9,300)
A year ago at Kapalua, Gary Woodland would have won the Sentry Tournament of Champions but for the final round pyrotechnics of Xander Schauffele.
He got his reward a few months later in winning the US Open, and that was confirmation that he enjoys playing in the wind.
Woodland has recorded top-three finishes at both Kapalua and Waialae, and so we can have no doubt that this is a part of the world he loves playing in – he’s a quick starter in the new year, too.
Key Stats:
- Total Drivers – 1st
- Birdie Average – 11th
- Greens in Regulation – 14th
Mid-Tier Pick #2:
Brendon Todd (Odds: 45/1, FPPG: 71.9, GPFP: 89.50 Salary: $8,100)
Back before his problems with the yips and other afflictions began, Brendon Todd recorded a T8 finish here back in 2015.
It’s a handy sighter for a player for whom confidence is not in short supply at the moment on the back of that extraordinary 4-1-1 run to end 2019.
Those excellent performances were no coincidence either. The tracks at El Camaleon, Sea Island and Royal Port all complimentary in style, i.e. coastal, short and – in the case of the latter pair – Bermuda laid.
Based on that information, Todd should surely go well at Kapalua too.
Key Stats:
- Driving Accuracy – 13th
- Scoring Average – 14th
- Birdie Average – 19th
Mid-Tier Pick #3:
J.T. Poston (Odds: 80/1, FPPG: 73.9, GPFP: 83.53 Salary: $7,400)
J.T. Poston’s qualifying victory for this event came at the Wyndham Championship, which is played at the easy, Bermuda layout of Sedgefield Country Club.
Detroit GC and the Country Club of Jackson, both easy to score, have also yielded T11 finishes from the ‘Postman’, so clearly he’s a player that thrives when there’s no problems to be found.
He has top-20s in events like the Sony Open, the RBC Heritage and the RSM Classic, so there’s plenty of correlating form to work with here.
Key Stats:
- SG: Putting – 50th
- Birdie Average – 55th
- SG: Approach – 58th
Low-Tier Pick:
Keith Mitchell (Odds: 110/1, FPPG: 55.0, GPFP: 61.05 Salary: $7,000)
Here’s a player who comes in and out of form seemingly at random, but a closer examination of Keith Mitchell’s form reveals a player who thrives in certain conditions.
Those include a penchant for Bermuda – his win at the Honda Classic came on the surface, as well as an ability to make birdies and shoot low numbers.
His main problem is a wayward streak with driver in hand, and so any track where that problem gets left in the bag also holds much appeal for a player who found a touch of form in finishing T14 at the RSM Classic last time out.
Key Stats:
- Total Driving – 58th
- Approaches from 75-100 yards – 62nd
- Birdie Average – 88th
Sleeper Pick for the Sentry Tournament of Champions
Ryan Palmer (Odds: 90/1, FPPG: 87.2, GPFP: 112.45 Salary: $7,200)
In amongst the best players in the world that you would expect to rank so highly for the stat, Ryan Palmer sat thirteenth in the Birdie Average standings in 2019.
Comfort in low-scoring shootouts is confirmed then, as is an ability to thrive in the wind that you would expect from a Texan.
T15 here in his last trip way back in 2011, Palmer has not been busy of late but he was in reasonable form on the Asian Swing, recording T10 and T12 finishes in the ZOZO Championship and CJ Cup respectively.
Las time out he played very nicely in the admittedly-genteel surroundings of the QBE Shootout, where he and partner Harold Varner III finished up in T3.
Key Stats:
- SG: Tee-to-Green – 12th
- Par 4 Scoring Average – 13th
- Birdie Average – 14th
Alternative Sleeper Pick for the Sentry Tournament of Champions
Sung Kang (Odds: 150/1, FPPG: 68.5, GPFP: 78.09 Salary: $6,600)
It’s a pick based on a feeling rather than anything you’ll find on a spreadsheet, but we’re happy to go in to bat with a guy who has won on a Crenshaw & Coore layout in the past and who has a top-ten to his name in Hawaii.
Whether Kang’s victory in the AT&T Byron Nelson is of any relevance is anybody’s guess, but we’re hoping the designers’ blueprint suits his eye ahead of what is a course debut.
The Korean played some good golf on the Asian swing, and the hope is that he gets inspired by a new year and new opportunities to come.
Key Stats:
- SG: Tee-to-Green – 57th
- Birdie Average – 57th
- Par 4 Scoring Average – 81st
This Week’s Sample DraftKings Lineup
Note: Sample lineups provided as examples only. Be sure to mix-and-match players to best fit individual contests.
[/membership]
Fantasy Golf Predictions This Season (2019-2020)
Remember to visit our private Facebook group to discuss this week’s picks for Sentry Tournament of Champions with other Premium Members.
Cover Photo via Instagram
What’s Really Going on with LIV Golf?
Blind Ranking The Most Iconic Masters Moments
FIRST LOOK: Titleist Unveils New Vokey WedgeWorks Grind Lineup
New Shot Scope LM1: The Best Budget Launch Monitor Under $200?
Did LIV Golf Finally Get its Big Breakthrough?
FIRST LOOK: Titleist’s New GTS Driver Lineup Spotted on Tour
New Shot Scope LM1: The Best Budget Launch Monitor Under $200?
FIRST LOOK: Titleist Unveils New Vokey WedgeWorks Grind Lineup
Did LIV Golf Finally Get its Big Breakthrough?
Blind Ranking The Most Iconic Masters Moments
We Played This Old Golf Course Where Thomas Edison Was A Member
Are You MEASURING Your Golf Swing Correctly? (This Can Help)
Zach Johnson Explains Why He Didn’t Pick Bryson DeChambeau for the Ryder Cup
Justin Thomas FIRES Coach before Ryder Cup…Who’s Next?
