Golf fans will be in for a treat for the first star-studded tournament of the calendar year at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in beautiful Hawaii.
Most of the PGA’s top stars from last year will be ready to tee-off, but have you also readied yourself to start banking on one of these top competitors that you predict will take home the first win of 2016? Don’t you worry, because a handful of the experts online have weighed in below with their picks for Thursday’s event to assist you every step of the way.
And don’t forget to check out our very own complete preview and sleeper picks for the showdown in Kapalua right after this to round out your golf betting needs.
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Experts Picks and Predictions for the Hyundai Tournament of Champions
PGATour.com
Expert
Pick
Sean Martin
Jordan Spieth
Jonathan Wall
Dustin Johnson
Rob Bolton
Jordan Spieth
James Hickey
Graeme McDowell
Charlie Kane
Patrick Reed
Mike McAllister
Dustin Johnson
Amanda Balionis
Rickie Fowler
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The seven-man panel over at PGA Tour’s official website don’t have a unanimous or majority favorite for this week’s tournament given the wealth of credible competitors on the field, and the fact that a renewed year of golfing action will likely garner some surprising results.
Still, editor Sean Martin and fantasy guru Rob Bolton are high on last season’s most coveted player, Jordan Spieth. It’s hard to fathom that the 22-year-old phenom will slump out of the gates after the banner 2015 he had (two majors tiles, five total wins, 15 top 10 finishes), and Spieth looks poised to finally win in Kapalua after finishing second in this tournament back in 2014.
Meanwhile, Dustin Johnson also got some love from the pundits above as well. Jonathan Wall and Mike McAllister are counting on Johnson’s momentum – five top 10 finishes over the last seven tournaments last year – to carry over into his outing at the Hyundai ToC. He’s also no stranger to this tournament, having won this 73-par course back in 2013 with his massive swing (he led the PGA last year with an average driving distance of 317.3 yards).
Sporting News
Expert
Pick 1
Pick 2
Pick 3
Pick 4
Pick 5
Alex Brzezinski
Jordan Spieth
Jason Day
Rickie Fowler
Bubba Watson
Patrick Reed
Get used to Spieth’s name topping a lot of analysts’ lists for the upcoming tournaments that he’ll partake, but we should also never ignore the impact that World No. 2 golfer Jason Day has to offer. The Aussie played the part of spoiler to Spieth’s supposedly historic run at the majors, and even managed to overthrow his rival from the top spot of the World Golf Ranking for a little under a month during the tail-end of 2014.
Alex Brzezinski of Sporting News also mentioned that Day finished tied for third in Kapalua last year. Given that the reigning PGA Championship title-holder gained steam during the latter part of 2014, it’s highly likely that he’ll be able to seal the deal in this Thursday’s tournament to begin his renewed quest of reaching the summit of the WGR’s standings on the right foot.
Golf News Net
Expert
Pick 1
Pick 2
Pick 3
Pick 4
Pick 5
Golf News Net
Jordan Spieth
Patrick Reed
Jason Day
Bubba Watson
Rickie Fowler
The folks over at Golf News Net went with what’s supposed to be their pecking order of the top fantasy picks for this tournament, but their selection of golfers don’t really differ at all from Sporting News’ own predictions. GNN is just more inclined towards Patrick Reed’s prospects of claiming the victory in Hawaii, and with good reason.
Reed is the defending champion here at the Tournament of Champions, and is even streakier heading into the tournament than Dustin Johnson before him, as the 25-year-old Texas native enters this week’s tournament with six-consecutive top 10 finishes. In addition, Reed has also been known to peak in tournaments at the forefront of any given calendar year, and that makes him a formidable threat once again for the rest of the PGA’s more decorated players on this list.
