2025 PGA Tour Launches with The Sentry: Key Contenders to Watch at Kapalua
The wait is over for golf fans as the 2025 PGA Tour season kicks into action this week with the traditional opening tournament of the year, The Sentry, which takes place at the Plantation Course at Kapalua in Hawaii.
This competition used to be the preserve of those who had claimed tournament glory on tour the previous year, but this is the second year since it was extended and, with the top 50 in last year’s FedEx Cup standings eligible to play, a field of 60 will go to post.
There are a couple of glaring omissions from the list as Rory McIlroy once again gives the first of eight signature events the swerve, while world number one Scottie Scheffler, who was tied for fifth last year, would have surely attended had he not cut the palm of his hand while preparing his Christmas dinner.
That freak injury requires surgery and will see him out of action for a few weeks, and his absence should open the market for the tournament, which will take place on the only par-73 course the professionals will tackle this season.
The fairways are wide enough for everyone to let rip off the fairway and the undulations can take the ball significant distances, so there is little to fear for the pros as they look to let loose after a few weeks off.
Tip 1 - Xander Schauffele to win The Sentry @ 11/2
Schauffele capable of making the perfect start
Scheffler and McIlroy’s absence from the trip to Hawaii looks to have opened the door for Xander Schauffele to take 2025’s first tournament by the scruff of the neck, and the world number two should need no second invitation.
The last year has been the time when Schauffele has pushed on to another level, breaking his Major duck with a win at the PGA Championship and then following that with a win at The Open for good measure.
He performed solidly in the FedExCup playoffs and it would be a big surprise if he did not improve upon the sixth place he claimed in this tournament last year, particularly as he won it in 2019, was second the following year and then fifth in 2021.
Schauffele is a superb tee-to-green performer and this seems like the ideal environment for those skills to come to the fore. He has a lot of reasons to be confident about getting 2025 off to the perfect start.
Tip 2 - Sungjae Im to win The Sentry @ 18/1
Im ticks the boxes for Kapalua glory
South Korea’s Sungjae Im finished fifth in this tournament last year, when he carded a closing round of 73 and the challenge of the Plantation Course appears to be one that is to his liking.
That was the 26-year-old’s fourth trip to the opening tournament of the year and he has yet to finish worse than 13th, so there looks a good chance he can build on what was a consistent second half of 2023, even though he was unable to seal a PGA Tour win.
Im secured fourth spot at May’s Wells Fargo Championship and went on to claim seven further top-10 finishes, including seventh spot at the Tour Championship.
That consistency, matched with a decent record on this track, could help him to post a memorable start to the new year.
Tip 3 - Adam Scott to win The Sentry @ 33/1
Scott should not be a forgotten man
Any thoughts that Adam Scott would simply fade away towards the Seniors Tour as he approached his mid-40s were dispelled in 2023 and the former Masters champion can demonstrate this week that he is still a force to be reckoned with.
The Australian started 2024 with seventh place at the Dubai Desert Classic and was eighth at the Phoenix Open shortly afterwards before a strong second half of the year.
He was 10th at The Open and then performed well in the FedEx Cup playoffs, finishing second behind Keegan Bradley at the BMW Championship and then fourth at the Tour Championship the following week.
His third at the DP World Tour Championship in November was another strong showing and while he was 29th on his last Kapalua appearance in 2023, he has four top-10 finishes at the Plantation Course, including a second place to Vijay Singh in 2007.