The PGA Tour is back for its first even of 2021, and it will get started with the Sentry Tournament of Champions from Plantation Course at Kapalua in Hawaii. The tournament will start on on Thursday, Jan. 7 and conclude Sunday, Jan. 10. The Tournament of Champions will feature plenty of the sport’s top players, and Canadians Mackenzie Hughes and Nick Taylor will be among the competitors this weekend.
Big names across the sport including Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm will be competing in this tournament. Thomas is coming in as the defending champion at -14, defeating Patrick Reed and Xander Schauffele in a playoff.
There is no cut for this event, so each competitor is expected to complete all four rounds. The tournament will get started at 2:10 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Before we get into the betting odds, let’s get to know the two Canadian golfers heading into the Tournament of Champions with Hughes and Taylor.
Mackenzie Hughes
Mackenzie Hughes ranks as the 50th best golfer according to the Official World Golf Ranking. He did not appear in this event last year, but he played the course in 2017. He finished in 25th place at -6 through his four rounds, finishing off with a 68 in the final round of play.
Hughes has played in six tournaments so far in the PGA Tour season, and made the cut in four of the events. In an unofficial event, he finished second place at the QBE Shootout his last time out on Dec. 13. Prior to that, he missed the cut at The RSM Classic in November after shooting even par. He has two top-10 finishes this season including a third-place finish at the Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship in September.
Hughes will be paired with Harris English with a 4:40 p.m. ET tee time on Thursday.
Nick Taylor
Nick Taylor ranks 135th in the Official World Golf Rankings, and he hasn’t played at this course since 2015. In that event, he played all four rounds and finished in 29th place at -6 in the tournament, highlighted by a 69 in Round 1.
Taylor has competed in six tournaments so far in this PGA Tour season and missed the cut three times including his most recent stop at The RSM Classic in November. Taylor’s best performance of the season came the week before that event in The Masters when he placed 29th overall.
Taylor will play his first round alongside Carlos Ortiz at 2:50 p.m. ET on Thursday.
Tournament of Champions Betting Preview
Sportsbooks have a variety of betting options for gamblers to choose from as they’re getting ready for the Tournament of Champions event. All odds listed below are via a popular United States sportsbook.
Finishing position
The top five golfers according to oddsmakers to finished first in this event include Johnson at +650 odds, Thomas at +750 to repeat, Rahm at +800, Schauffele at +1000 and Bryson DeChambeau in fifth at +1800 odds.
Among the two Canadians, Hughes has the better odds to win it, but both are longshots. Hughes is tied for the 31st best odds at +12500, and Taylor is tied for the worst odds to win the event at +40000. Hughes is tat +1400 to finish in the top five and +600 to finish in the top 10. Taylor has +4500 odds to finish in the top five and +1400 to crack the top 10 in the tournament.
Matchups
The sportsbook paired several individuals together, and bettors can take their pick for which golfer will finish the tournament with the best score. Hughes was matched up against Lanto Griffin and is the slight underdog at +100, while Griffin is at -120.
Hughes has also been placed in a group of five competitors by the sportsbook with each of them having odds to see which golfer will be the best of the gorup. Jason Kokrak and Marc Leishman are the favorites of the group at +300, Sebastian Munoz is at +350, while Hughes and Griffin are each at +400 to finish first in this grouping.
Taylor has a matchup against Ortiz to see which golfer will have the better score in the first round of competition. Ortiz is the favorite at -125 with Taylor at +145. If the two finish with the same exact score, the odds for that happening are +800.
Tournament props
There are a number of props to choose from, and one of them is whether or not each individual player will make an eagle this weekend. Huhes has +125 odds to make an eagle, and -167 odds to fail to reach that accomplishment.
Will there be a hole in one from anybody throughout the weekend? There is no betting option for “no,” but “yes” is getting +10000 odds.
Nationality prop
The sportsbook is offering odds on which golfer will perform the best based on their nationality. Hughes is getting -200 odds to beat out Taylor, who is at +150 to be the best Canadian golfer through this weekend.
