HP 🍑 for The Sentry Tournament of Champions 2024

First Look: Plantation Course at Kapalua, Maui, HI

Check out DB’s full Course Breakdown for everything you need to know about this week’s venue including in-depth stats and data from Bet The Number.

Ladies and gentlemen, welcome back to the PGA Tour. After a cold, dark winter full of rollbacks, deflating domes and renewed hostilities between LIV Golf and Jay Monahan, the Hawaiian sunshine provides a much-needed fresh start to the 2024 professional golf calendar at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. As always, the opening week features nothing but the best (+ Lee Hodges) as 35 tournament winners are filling out the 59-man field at the Plantation Course at Kapalua. Notably absent is defending TOC Champ Jon Rahm, who, despite pledges of fealty, is off counting his money with LIV golf. But enough politics. You opened 'Heavy Petting’ for some sensual stats and info to help you bet and DFS your way into some cash to start the new year, so let’s get into it.

Welcome to the Show:
Get to Know the 2024 PGA Tour Rookies

Thanks to recent eligibility changes from the PGA Tour, 45 newly minted Tour Cards were handed out ahead of the 2024 season. Each week, we’ll spotlight a few up-and-comers whose names will be important to know as the year progresses.

• Chris Gotterup - Little Silver, NJ

  The 24-year-old Oklahoma graduate might just give Ludvig Aberg a run for his money as the next collegiate star to make waves on the PGA Tour. Gotterup first announced himself with the Sooners where he won the 2022 Haskins and Nicklaus Awards on his way to a runner-up finish in the NCAAs. That same year, he finished T7 at the Puerto Rico Open and T4 at the John Deere to earn conditional status on the KFT for 2023. Like Ludvig, he’s a bomber off the tee, ranking No. 1 in driving distance on the KFT at 324.8 yards on average. Combine that with his elite scoring ability (No. 3 in KFT scoring avg in 2023) and he’s one of the best coming up to the big leagues this year despite only finishing 24th in the KFT points list.

• Adrien Dumont de Chassart - Belgium

  Another college hotshot, this Belgian wonder boy couldn’t have started his professional career any better. Mere days after wrapping up his 5th and final year at the University of Illinois where he was named the B1G Golfer of the year three times, ‘DDC’ cashed a ticket in his first KFT start with a win at the 2023 BMW Charity Pro-Am. If that wasn’t impressive enough, the 23-year-old proceeded to bag top-10s in each of his next FIVE starts, practically locking up a Tour Card in his first six events. While not an overly long hitter, DDC led the KFT in scoring average and was second in putting in 2023.

• Alejandro Tosti - Argentina

  You know all about the Postman, now allow me to introduce you to the Tostman. Tour Junkies-own DB called his shot when he backed the former Florida Gator at +850 to finish T20 at last year’s Mexico Open where he finished 10th. Tosti went on to record eight top 10s on the KFT including a win at the Pinnacle Bank Championship last fall. Like some other Latin players over the years, the Argentine is earning a fiery reputation due to his ill temper, but he’s a force when he can channel that fury into his golf swing. He finished 3rd on the KFT in driving distance and putting average in 2023, so he’s usually worth a bet even if there’s a chance he gets DQ’d due to bad behavior.

1. SG: Off the Tee Leaders last 24 rounds: 1. Aberg  2. Scheffler  3. List  4. An  5. Norrman  6. Hovland  7. Kim, Si Woo  8. Cantlay  9. Homa  10. Conners

2. Top 10 in Ball Speed last 30 rounds: 1. Clark  2. Young, Cameron  3. An  4. Aberg  5. Kitayama  6. Norrman  7. Burns  8. Schenk  9. Rodgers, Patrick 10. Schauffele

3. Top 10 in Driving Accuracy % last 30 rounds:  1. Henley 2. Glover  3. Todd  4. Kim, Si Woo  5. Aberg  6. Svensson  7. Bhatia  8. Straka  9. English 10. Morikawa

4. Leaders in SG: APP 60-140 yds over last 30 rounds:  1. Villegas  2. Matsuyama  3. Conners  4. Hadwin  5. Glover  6. Henley  7. Scheffler  8. Taylor  9. Cole 10. Kim, Tom

5. Leaders in SG: APP 175-275 yds over last 30 rounds: 1. Poston  2. Norrman  3. Van Rooyen  4. Scheffler  5. Young  6. Finau 7. Henley  8. Echavarria  9. Schenk  10. Rodgers 

6. Leaders in SG: Putting from 6’-20’: 1. Fitzpatrick  2. Hatton  3. McCarthy  4. Schauffele  5. Morikawa  6. Aberg  7. Bradley  8. Straka  9. Cole  10. Clark

7. Leaders in SG: Putting on Bermuda Greens over last 24 rounds: 1. Fitzpatrick  2. Poston  3. Fleetwood  4. Rose  5. Schauffele  6. Harman  7. Hadwin  8. Hoge  9. Bradley 10. Hodges

8. Top 10 in SG: Total at Kapalua: 1. Fowler  2. Hoge  3. Morikawa  4. Spieth  5. Kim, Tom  6. Schauffele  7. Fitzpatrick  8. Im  9. Cantlay 10. Davis

9. Top 10 in DataGolf in Projected Fantasy Value for the week: 1. Scheffler  2. Morikawa  3. An  4. Henley  5. List  6. Hovland  7. Davis  8. Cantlay  9. Rodgers  10. Im

10. Top 10 in Data Golf Positive Course History vs. Expectation: 1. Hoge 2. List 3. Davis  4. Kim, Tom  5. Morikawa  6. Putnam  7. Fowler  8. Straka  9. Schauffele 10. Homa

There are some exciting changes coming to Underdog for golf in mid January. For now, you can’t do picks in the same stat category, but you will be able to soon with some minor payout shifting.

I love the Ludvig and Henley selections here. The last 2 years at Kapalua, the average BoB’s per round was 5.7. With Studvig’s ability, 6 BoB’s should be no problem. I also love Henley this week in general so a 1st round -4 seems reasonable to me. Let’s get it!