THE SENTRY PREVIEW - WHICH THREE PLAYERS HAVE THE MOST TO PROVE THIS WEEK IN MAUI

Mario Russo

The PGA Tour’s first of two annual trips to Hawaii is set to kick off on Thursday in Maui, and with it brings a new caveat as part of the schedule changes in 2024.

Since 1999, every first week of January has placed Tour swingers on the Plantation Course for the Sentry Tournament of Champions. This year however, much of the star-studded field set to tee things up on Thursday, will participate in the event having not been crowned a victor on Tour over the last calendar year. 

Instead, and as a direct result of the tournament - now named ‘The Sentry’ - being the first of eight Signature Events on the 2024 schedule - the event will feature both winners from 2023, as well as any other player residing on the latest FedEx Cup playoff points list to bring the field to 59.

Some of the players that will be benefiting from the new format this week include Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay and Tommy Fleetwood. All three did not record a victory on Tour last season, but will be participating in the first Signature Event of the new year. 

While those on the course look to strike a balance between shaking off some rust from the offseason or immediately going for the first elevated victory of the season, a trio of Americans within the field appear to have an additional storyline to their name entering the annual challenge in Maui. 

1 - Brian Harman 

The 36-year old will be embarking on his third season-opening event this week and heads into Thursday with more to prove than ever before in his previous trips to Kapaula. 

Harman’s victory last July at The Open still manages to ripple shockwaves throughout the game of golf nearly half a dozen months after he hoisted the Claret Jug at Royal Liverpool. A stretch of two-day dominance nabbed Harman his first major victory by six strokes and featured the Georgia native land 58 of 59 putts within 10-feet of the pin to help claim his title.

With a pair of top-10 finishes since, Harman has shown that he may not be the one-hit wonder that typically comes with being a first-time major winner at the age of 36. Perhaps a late-late bloomer, Harman’s game - particularly his putting - has possessed some bite since his career-changing victory. 

Having entered 2024 ranked first in putting from 6’ at nearly a resounding 92% chance of finding the hole, very little has changed in Harman’s strongest club. He also ranks 8th on Tour is Total Putting and even led the field is Puts Per Greens in Regulation in his last appearance at the Hero World Challenge in Albany.

Harman opens 2024 with more to prove than ever before and a game that closely aligns with his ambitions heading into Maui. Don’t be surprised this time around if Harman dominates The Sentry and goes on to have as hot of a start as Max Homa or even Jon Rahm did last winter. He’s had the game, now he has the ambition to push him over the line. 

2 - Scottie Scheffler 

As far as hot, or even good putters go, Scottie Scheffler would not be able to hold a candle to the flatstick of Harman last season, let alone the majority of the field in 2023. 

Scheffler’s putting woes have been well-documented over the last calendar year since failing to pick up back-to-back wins at Augusta in April. 

His game, although beyond steady with either hand on any other club, proved to be costly over the course of the season as expensive missed putts continued to stack up and clog the mind of the world number one. 

Scheffler showed signs of turning a corner in the rotting part of his game all throughout his final win of the season at the Hero World Challenge in early December. His debut on a new, custom-made putter paired up nicely on the greens with the work he put in throughout the offseason with Phil Kenyon following the Ryder Cup. 

A finish in the top-10 in Strokes Gained Putting could be huge for Scheffler this week as he looks to put his putting problems well behind him heading into the business portion of the season. 

Just how many putts can Scheffler land in his second event with a new putter may be the biggest question of all heading into The Sentry, and the answer may very well pair itself well with a Scheffler victory to open up 2024. 

3 - Collin Morikawa 

Perhaps the biggest single-day collapse of the entire 2023 season may belong to Collin Morikawa that took place at the very same course in which he is getting set to play in on Thursday. 

Having led last year’s field at Kapalua by six strokes heading into the final Sunday, Morikawa was met with a puzzling fall from grace that enabled a red-hot Rahm to swoop in and take his first of three wins through the opening seven weeks of the campaign. 

With Rahm now well-away from providing a scare to Morikawa this time around, the California native will look to shift all his focus to quickly getting his game back on track following his worst season since turning pro in 2019. 

After blowing a lead in Maui last year, Morikawa went on to miss six cuts over the course of the 2023 season - spending more weekends away from competition than in any other year of his young career. 

It was not until mid-October that Morikawa claimed his first victory of the season, a feat that took far too long given the level of talent the 26-year old possesses.

His irons in particular is what has been a key separator of Morikawa’s game and still found ways to sparkle amidst a low season for the American. Morikawa gained 1.012 strokes on the field while approaching greens last season, a feat that ranked second on Tour and was greatly canceled out by his loss of strokes once he got onto the greens, losing 0.109 to the field while putting.

Although his putting may be in need of a boost as early as this week, Morikawa’s driver might be the club set to hold his weekly fortunes in greater balance at the Plantation Course. 

Ranked 130th last season in his approach from over 275 yards and just 134th in driving distance, Morikawa showed signs of a potential turnaround after leading the field in driving accuracy at The Tour Championship in August. 

Mastering one or even two of these crucial clubs as early as this week can be massive for Morikawa - who enters the season in search of redemption from the first final Sunday of last season. 

Morikawa - set to tee off on Thursday at 7:45 am EST - will be part of the first group to strike a golf ball in 2024. Harman will start his day off at 7:57 am EST, while Scheffler wraps up play with his tee shot at 11:39 am EST. 

The $20 million purse will kickstart the new season on the PGA Tour, a $5 million dollar boost from last year’s event at Kapalua to mark the first Signature Event of 2024.