ORLANDO, Florida – Nestled in one of Hawaii’s largest nature preserves, the Kapalua Resort features a necklace of stunning white sandy beaches, two marine sanctuaries, and the world-class Plantation Golf Course all located on the beautiful island of Maui. It was also the home of this week’s PGA TOUR’s 2024 The Sentry Golf Tournament.
The field was comprised of tournament winners from the 2022-2023 season, as well as the top 50 players in last season’s FedEx Cup standings. This week’s Sentry was the first of eight scheduled Signature Events that will feature a no cut format. The $20 million Sentry purse awards $3.6 million to the winner. The runner-up gets $2.16 million, and third takes home $1.36 million.
The PGA TOUR has now reverted to a season that takes place within a single calendar year, abandoning its previous “wraparound” schedule that began in the fall and ran through the summer of the following year making the Sentry the first tournament of the 2024 season.
COURSE
Ben Crenshaw and Bill Coore get credit for designing the Plantation Course. Its raw beauty and majestic views of the Pacific Ocean, the mountainous West Maui Forest Reserve, and the island of Moloka’i across the Lahaina Roads Bay provided a rich, diverse, and near-perfect canvas on which to construct this course.
The Plantation Course offers a dramatic ocean view from virtually every hole. Its lengthy 7,411-yard par 73 layout was a challenge but it’s wide fairways and generous greens make it user friendly. The slope/course rating from most tees along with smooth and fast fairways, added distance to most drives and approach shots resulting in numerous birdie opportunities.
Round 1
Sahith Theegala sits at the top of the leaderboard at 9- under after the opening round, with five players, Collin Morikawa, Camilo Villegas, Sungjae Im, Jason Day, Viktor Hovland sitting one shot back.
The reigning FedEx Cup champion Hovland heated up in the last seven holes, finishing five under. Hovland called his round “pretty scrappy from a swing standpoint, but I’m very happy with the score. Managed to make some putts and kept it relatively stress-free.”
Round 2
This might be something you’ve heard a few times before, Scottie Scheffler is once again leading a PGA Tour event. The 2022-23 PGA Tour Player of The Year shot a 64 on Friday to get to 16- under at The Sentry. All 59 players broke par today with the average score on the Plantation course rounding out to 67.
Tyrrell Hatton eagled his final hole in spectacular fashion to polish off an 11-under 62 and match the early clubhouse lead during the second round on Friday. The Englishman is tied at 15-under 131 with Brendon Todd and South Korea’s Sungjae Im. All three are trailing Scheffler by 1 stroke (130).
Round 3
Split tees starting times were used for both the 3rd and 4th rounds. This was done due to the large field of 59 golfers and to accommodate television coverage with a busy weekend sports schedule.
After enjoying warm breezes and dominance over the unpredictable Plantation course during the first 2 rounds, the Pacific Tradewinds decided to shake things up today bringing windy conditions driving up scores and creating constant movement on the leaderboard.
Chris Kirk’s 7-under 66, was good enough to move up to the top of the leaderboard with a 21-under 198. “A little bit of a slow start, for sure,” Kirk said. “You certainly can’t protect anything out here. We’ve had relatively calm winds, then pretty breezy today.”
World No. 1 Scheffler, who held a one-shot overnight lead, carded 1-under 71 to join a group three off the pace at 201.
FINAL ROUND
Heading into the final round the leaderboard had, 1st Chris Kirk -21. 2nd Akshay Bhatia -20. 3rd Xander Schauffele -19, Jordan Spieth -19, An Byeong-hun -19. 6th Harris English -18, Jason Day -18, Sahith Theegala -18, Scottie Scheffler -18.
Bright sunshine, lightning-fast greens, and fairways that were receptive and well-manicured gave golfers no excuses for not bringing this storied golf course to its knees. The front nine, that played the toughest all week, seemed to be holding the leaderboard somewhat steady with only a couple of exceptions.
The Hawaiian ruler of the oceans and winds is Kanaloa. He would grant sailors a smooth passage and a helpful breeze if they offered him gifts. It looks like the Kapalua Resorts found the perfect gifts this week. Aside from a strong breeze during yesterday’s round, the weather at the Plantation Course was definitely smooth sailing.
As the final twosome made the turn to the 10th tee, the leaderboard was looking crowded and up for grabs. 1st Kirk -26. 2nd Spieth -24. 3rd I’m -23, Theegala -23. 5th Scheffler-22, Schauffele -22, Eric Cole -22. 8th Tyrell Hatton -21, Adam Hadwin -21, Brian Harman -21.
The top 3 places held pretty solid during the final 9 holes. Only Spieth and Theegala changed places. The Plantation Course here at the Kapalua Resort certainly lived up to its reputation when it came to low scores and birdies galore.
This year’s winner of the 2024 Sentry Tournament is Chris Kirk -29. He’s earned himself a check for $3.6 million and his name on the Sentry Trophy. This is his 6th career victory with career earnings listed at $29,693,406 with today’s money added in. 2nd Place went to Sahith Theegala -28 who picks up $2.16 million. 3rd Place belonged to Jordan Spieth -27 who will bring home $1.36 million.
INTERVIEW
The NBC Sports’ reporter asked Chris Kirk, “Congratulations, it got tight down the stretch, and you had a wonderful shot on 17 that ultimately was the difference mentally and emotionally. What were you able to do so well to get this job done.” Chris responded, “I just kind of kept reminding myself of no matter how I felt, no matter how nervous I was, there was nothing really stopping me from getting great shots, hitting great spots, and you know, I was able to kind of remind myself of that before every shot. Yeah, that one on the 17, I’ll remember for a long time it was a great shot.”
The reporter continued. “Where do you want to go in 2024 with your game?” Chris replied, “Wherever it takes me. You know, I’m just enjoying competing. I’m enjoying the work. You know, I love playing. I didn’t have that for a while and to be back to loving what I do. I love the process of working to be the best player that I can. I’m working on being as good of a father and husband as I can when I’m off the golf course. So, it’s a constant process and I’m just loving every minute.”
https://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard
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