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KAPALUA, Maui >> If you’re sitting around the castle with nothing to do over the next few days, you might consider coming to Maui and watch some of the best on the PGA Tour ply their trade at this week’s $6 million SBS Tournament of Champions.
Granted, the weather hasn’t been a picture-perfect postcard for those strolling the fairways of the famed Plantation Course. There was a river of water running down the 18th fairway on New Year’s Day as the rains that took up residence on Maui this past month did their thing.
But Tuesday and Wednesday the blue sky and light winds were like they draw it up at the Hawaii Tourism Authority with the Ben Crenshaw-designed course finally drying out over here in time for today’s winners-only tournament that features four of the top six swingers in the world.
World No. 1 Jason Day, No. 3 Dustin Johnson, No. 5 and defending champion Jordan Spieth and No. 6 Hideki Matsuyama are among 32 of the 38 golfers who qualified for this elite field. All six who sat this one out are foreigners, including world No. 2 Rory McIlroy and No. 4 Henrik Stenson.
Still, it’s one of the stronger fields here in recent memory with Americans Spieth, Johnson and Patrick Reed leading the way. All three have won here since 2013 and are playing some of the best golf of their careers.
Johnson was named the PGA Tour Player of the Year after winning three times and carding 15 top 10s in 22 events played. Although the red-hot Matsuyama is the betting favorite based on his recent play, Johnson figures to be among the top finishers on Sunday if his wedge play and putting cooperate.
“It’s always great to start the year here,” Johnson said. “It’s a golf course I really enjoy playing. I’ve had good success here and you know I’m looking forward to 2017, getting off to a good start. I like this tournament.”
So does Spieth, who became only the second golfer in tour history to go 30 under and win with a stellar performance last year. Reed, who beat two-time Sony Open and 2016 PGA Championship winner Jimmy Walker in a playoff in 2015, was the runner-up to Spieth some eight strokes off the Texan’s torrid pace.
When Spieth won here in 2016 he was ranked No. 1 in the world after bagging two majors in 2015. He won twice last year and will be remembered more for his Masters meltdown than anything else.
“Certainly off of this week last year, it didn’t necessarily help that 2016; my own and anyone else’s expectations, given the (30-under) performance that we had,” Spieth said. “But I also knew that that wasn’t realistic to continue to do.
“I was happy when the ball touched down and 2017 started. It was still a great year, but I learned a lot on both ends of things, highs and lows, which I didn’t really have many lows in 2015 and after that it was just trying to climb up to the top level. I learned a lot from those highs and lows, and therefore, I think I can use that to my advantage this year and on.”
Day replaced Spieth at the top of the charts. But a faulty back and bad weather in his hometown of Columbus, Ohio, limited the Australian’s playing time. The 29-year-old hasn’t played in three months, but always enjoys teeing it up here where he has never finished out of the top 10. He hasn’t won here yet, but hopes it’s only a matter of time before he hoists a trophy here on Sunday.
“I’m glad to be here,” Day said. “This is always a great place to start, and if I could guarantee a spot here every single year, I’d come back every single year because I just love it here. With that said, I’m looking forward to a good week.”
Unlike Day, Matsuyama has played a lot of golf the last three months and is hopeful his recent play translates to another victory. He won five times worldwide last year, including four of the last five tournaments he entered in four different countries.
At the HSBC Champions, he became the first Asian to win a World Golf Championship. He matched that seven-shot victory over Stenson and Daniel Berger with another seven-shot win at the Taiheiyou Masters in Japan. And then won by two over Stenson at Tiger Woods’ Hero World Challenge. He was ahead by seven in that event as well before a late stumble almost opened the door for a Stenson win.
He tied for third here in 2015 in his only TOC appearance. He and Walker were tied for first entering the final round. To win four straight events sounds Tigeresque, but this young phenom has the kind of game that turns heads among his peers. He is glad to be here in the Hawaiian chain as well.
“The expectations of people around me are high,” Matsuyama said through a translator. “I don’t really worry too much about that. Hopefully, not put too much pressure on myself. But I know that other people expect a lot of me and so all I can do is just try my best.”
That’s exactly what Reed plans to do in 2017 as well. His best last year wasn’t as good as he would have liked, but all that changed in his dramatic performance at the Ryder Cup. He and McIlroy had a match for the ages that forever linked the two in Ryder Cup lore.
Both have become good friends off the course and have spoken several times since that fateful day that saw the USA finally beat Europe, thanks in part to the play of Reed. Like most of the golfers here, this is the start of a new year. And Reed would like nothing better than to get a win and ensure his return for 2018.
“It’s always a good place to start because it means last year you won a golf tournament,” Reed said. “So, you’re obviously coming off a good year. And to be a able to come into this year, coming into an event that’s a small field, yet a challenging golf course, it kind of sets the tone on allowing you to see what you worked on in the offseason, how it is under the gun.”
Reed is part of an interesting field. You have your big names here, but you also have a lot of first-time winners, young guys only their mom and caddie know by name. Case in point, the two golfers who tee it up first at 10:20 a.m. are American Cody Gribble and Canadian Mackenzie Hughes.
They may not be household names, but they have a chance for another major payday and the opportunity to match their swings with the world’s best. And in this game, that’s all you can expect.
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