– It’s easy to pay attention to those not at The Sentry starting this Thursday. It’s inevitable to think of Scottie Scheffler, not to mention Rory McIlroy, although his absence in Hawaii no longer surprises anyone, Jordan Spieth, who didn’t even qualify, Tommy Fleetwood, whose roadmap to start the year never stops in these parts, and even Movistar, the platform that for the first time in over twenty years will not broadcast the PGA Tour, or Jon Rahm, for the more nostalgic. This is a reality and, undoubtedly, the void is felt at the start of this year.
– It’s the worst representation of the world’s top 10 at the Sentry since 2020. It’s an objective fact. This week we have six members: Schauffele, Morikawa, Aberg, Matsuyama, Wyndham Clark, and Hovland. Between 2021 and 2024, we had eight players among the world’s top ten, a decline that is not insignificant, although in 2020, before the pandemic outbreak, only five of the top ten appeared in Hawaii. Some names are missing, agreed, but there is still much to see in what was once the tournament of champions and now gathers the winners of the 2024 PGA Tour plus the top 50 of the FedEx Cup.
– For example, Schauffele, to name but one. Scheffler already showed him at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas that he’s not slowing down, beyond some unfortunate domestic accident. Will he be able to respond?
– Ludvig Aberg. The great breakthrough in world golf in 2023 has not fully confirmed the highest expectations in 2024. It wasn’t a bad year, far from it, but he didn’t have victories in the United States or Europe. He should be a fixture at Bethpage, but he must earn his place. The sooner he starts to prove it, the better.
– Collin Morikawa, Tony Finau, Patrick Cantlay, Sam Burns, Justin Thomas, or Max Homa. They also went winless in 2024. Without being a bad year, they were below what is expected of them. It’s true that Scheffler took a good part of the cake, but these types of players need to step up and claim their spotlight. They also need victories.
– What to say about Viktor Hovland. The big question mark before the ball starts rolling. What happened to him? Will he regain his best form? Will he be able to transform the sullen air he carried on the golf course in 2024 into the joy he showed in previous years? In this same chapter of uncertainties, Matt Fitzpatrick and Will Zalatoris could be included for different reasons.
– There is also much curiosity about what the Europeans Matthieu Pavon, Robert MacIntyre, Aaron Rai, or Thomas Detry will be capable of in a high-profile event like this. What they do in these events will largely determine if we see any of them in the next Ryder Cup.
– Speaking of Ryder, one, two, and three pairs of eyes are on Keegan Bradley. His obsession, almost above the captaincy, is to qualify for Bethpage as a player. The sooner he proves that the ‘threat’ is serious, the more entertaining the qualification process in the United States will be.
– It should also be the year of confirmation for Sahith Theegala. Confirmation means seeing him in the Ryder, competing for a Major, and lifting the trophy, why not, in one designated like this week.
– In this same category of confirmation, we must include Nick Dunlap, the first player in PGA Tour history to win a tournament as an amateur and another as a professional in the same season, also being Rookie of the Year. What’s next? What’s his ceiling?
As you can see, there are absences, true, it’s undeniable, but there is still much to see, analyse, and enjoy in this Sentry Tournament.
