The Sentry Best Bets, Odds, and Betting Preview (Picks for the Tournament of Champions)

The PGA Tour is back! After the fall swing and the holiday break, the true beginning of the PGA Tour season is set for this week with The Sentry.

Formerly known as the Tournament of Champions, the Sentry now features the winners from each 2023 tournament along with any golfers who made the Tour Championship. This year's field will feature 59 golfers with a few notable omissions, including Rory McIlroy, who has a history of opting out of the event.

In this article, I'm going to break down everything you need to know to wager on this event, including my best bets.

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Odds to Win The Sentry Tournament of Champions

The Sentry Tournament of Champions How to Watch and Purse

• Date: Thursday, January 4 - Sunday January 7
• Purse: $20 million (Winner's share: $3.6 million)
• Defending Champion: Jon Rahm

The Sentry Air Time

• Thursday: 6-10 p.m. EST (Golf Channel)
• Friday: 6-10 p.m. EST (Golf Channel)
• Saturday: 4-6 p.m. EST (NBC), 6-8 p.m. (Golf Channel)
• Sunday: 4-6 p.m. EST (NBC), 5-8 p.m. (Golf Channel)

The Sentry Notable Golfers in the Field

Scottie Scheffler: Fresh off being named the 2023 Golfer of the Year, Scottie Scheffler will tee it up at The Sentry after having won the most recent PGA Tour event that took place at the start of December, the Hero World Challenge. He finished T7 here last season

Collin Morikawa: The American has always had strong performances at the Sentry, finishing inside the top 7 in all four of his starts. He seemingly was going to cruise to a victory here in 2023, but three-straight bogeys on the back nine opened the door for Jon Rahm, who won the event with a 10-under par final round.

Best Bets for The Sentry (Picks for the Tournament of Champions)

Scottie Scheffler to Win

I'm making the squarest bet on the board and betting on Scottie Scheffler, the runaway favorite, to win the event. I know it's boring but sometimes the boring bets are the right bets. With Jon Rahm out of the mix and Rory McIlroy opting out of Hawa'ii once again, Scheffler is by far the best golfer in this field.

Is it wasn't for bad putting last season, it's unfathomable to think of how many more events he would have won. In the 2022-23 season, he led the PGA Tour in strokes gained: tee-to-green at 2.615. The next closest was Rory McIlroy at 1.938 for a mind-blowing difference of +0.677.

If you want some more reasoning to back up this square pick than "he's really good", allow me to show you some tournament trends shared by Ron Klos on Twitter.

It's the obvious bet, but it's the right bet and I refuse to be the idiot who doesn't bet him when he wins by five strokes on Sunday.

Ludvig Aberg Top 5 (+260)

All the hype surrounding Ludvig Aberg this season is well-deserved, but I'm not making this bet solely because of that. I'm making this bet because I can't think of anyone who fits this course better than the Swede.

He took the Tour by storm last season and immediately became one of the best drivers of the golf ball on Tour, ranking second in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee being only outdone by Scheffler. That's going to be important this week because great drivers of the golf ball, especially those with distance, have thrived at Kapalua throughout the years. Golfers can swing for the fences without worrying about missing its wide open fairways.

Obviously, this being his first time competing at this course is a cause for concern,

If you're going to place some bets on "to place", like this one, be sure to check the house rules at your sportsbook. Some will payout based on dead heat reduction rules if the golfer finishes in a tie for that spot, some sportsbooks will payout ties in full, which is why you'll see a difference in odds depending on where you bet.

I personally like to get all my "to place" bets paid out in full even if they finish in a tie so I often use BetMGM for these types of bets, including this one on Aberg. If you want to sign up for an account, use the link below to take advantage of their latest offer.

Vincent Norrman Top 10 +600

I'm going to back another Swede who can drive the golf ball well by betting on Vincent Norrman to finish T10 or better.

Norrman is like a discount version of Aberg, ranking 23rd in SG: Off-The-Tee last season and ninth in Driving Distance. He hasn't had the success of Aberg but he played some strong golf on the DP World Tour throughout the fall, winning the Horizon Irish Open and finishing inside the top 10 at the BMW PGA Championship and Nedbank Golf Challenge.

He, like Aberg, hasn't competed at Kapalua in his career, but his ability to drive the golf ball should suit him well this week. I like his chances to finish inside the top 10.

Odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

You can check out all of Iain's bets here!