Grab your Mai Thais, it's time for the Sentry Tournament of Champions!
This week is essentially the PGA TOUR's equivalent of Syllabus Week. Players don't have to worry about a cut while enjoying the beauty (and fun) of Hawaii. There's nothing to lose and lots of partying to be had.
The TOUR tees it up for the first time in 2022 at the Plantation Course at Kapalua with plenty of star power. Eight of the world's top 10 are in the field of 39. Some players seem to earn this stop on their calendars every single year, making this one of the more predictable weeks (if there is such a thing) of the betting year.
With that, here are my favorite First-Round Leader (FRL) bets for the 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Justin Thomas (+1200)
King of Kapalua himself, Justin Thomas leads the field in Strokes Gained: Total on Thursday here. A two-time winner of this event, Thomas shot 67 in 2017 and '20 in the first round. His most recent win at the Sentry was followed up by a 65 in his first round of 2021, when he went on to finish third.
It's safe to say JT plays well here and gets out of the gate pretty quickly. He boasts three top-threes in his last three starts, which included the aforementioned win in 2020.
Patrick Cantlay (+1800)
When you read the first sentence of this article, you should have known I was referencing this ladykiller. (Google it.)
The reigning FedEx Cup Champion doesn't mess around when it comes to overly pampered players, despite his affinity for this event. In his three showings at Kapalua, Cantlay has a T15, T13 and fourth.
Cantlay's last start was his win at the TOUR Championship (which followed a win at the BMW Championship the week prior). His game is buzzing, and this is a good week for him to get back in the swing of things. There's far less pressure this week than the last two events he played.
Jordan Spieth (+2000)
I almost want to rescind my earlier comments about Thomas being the King of Kapalua since Jordan Spieth has four top-nine finishes in four starts here.
With a record like that, it's hard to imagine he won't have another great showing. He's coming off of his best season in years on TOUR, getting that first win since the 2017 Open Championship this past spring. His game looks good, he's a new dad and life seems to be good for nice guy Spieth.
Harris English (+2800)
Despite what the Chinese Zodiac said, last year was actually year of the Harris.
English kicked off his two-win season right here with a playoff win over Joaquin Niemann. That playoff, thankfully, was far shorter than his Travelers playoff win against Kramer Hickok.
En route to his win, English opened with a 65 to grab a share of the first round lead. He led wire-to-wire that week, posting 25-under.
He's coming off of two missed cuts to end his fall season, which doesn't worry me at all. English played the Ryder Cup and then a few events after so that guy was exhausted. He's been working hard with his coach Justin Parsons down in Sea Island, and I suspect his game will be reminiscent of his 2021 form quite soon.
