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While the 2021-2022 wraparound PGA Tour season is well underway, the 2022 calendar year for the tour kicks off, per usual, with two events in Hawaii. The 39-player field in Kapalua includes 38 PGA Tour event winners from 2021 (sans Rory McIlroy) and Olympic gold medalist Xander Schauffele (12/1), the 2019 event champion.
Two-time Kapalua winner Justin Thomas (2017, 2020) is the favorite at BetMGM at 8/1, followed by world No. 1 Jon Rahm at 9/1. Next at 10/1 are Bryson DeChambeau and Collin Morikawa, who begins 2022 as arguably the hottest player in the game with three 2021 victories including his second major at The Open Championship. Plus, he became the first American to win the Race to Dubai on the European Tour (now known as the DP World Tour) this past November.
The 2020-21 PGA Tour Player of the Year and FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay makes his 2022 debut at 12/1. Harris English will try to defend his title at 33/1. And Phil Mickelson returns to Kapalua after a 21-year absence at 100/1.
Here are some players who are worth a wager this weekend.
Xander Schauffele (12/1): His last official PGA Tour victory came at Kapalua three years ago. Since then, Schauffele finished runner-up in 2020 and T-5 last year. He is in this winners-only field due to his Olympic gold medal win from Tokyo. The motivation is there to finally get back in the winner’s circle, and three of his four career PGA Tour wins are in smaller fields (’17 Tour Championship, ’18 WGC-HSBC, ’19 Sentry ToC).
Jordan Spieth (20/1): The new dad might not ordinarily be in a rush to get on the golf course so quickly after son Sammy was born in November. He has not played at Kapalua in over three years, however, and Kapalua is a place where he has always flourished, including a 2016 victory in the event, in which he shot 30-under par. Spieth has always played well at Kapalua as he has twice finished first for SG: Around The Green while he ranked in the top four for both Tee To Green and Putting on three occasions. He has also been top six in Approach three times at Kapalua and the wide fairways will mitigate his lack of length on this track.
Cameron Smith (20/1): Like Spieth, Smith can be a bit wayward off the tee. Also like Spieth, however, he can be deadly with his irons and absolutely putts the lights out, especially on Bermuda greens. The Aussie concluded his 2021 season very nicely with a T-9 at the CJ Cup, a T-15 in Houston, and a T-4 in the season finale at the RSM Classic. Smith is also a previous winner in the Aloha State as he took down the Sony Open in Honolulu two years ago.
Sungjae Im (25/1): Most of 2021 was a down year by Im’s standards. He posted just four top 10s in 27 starts beginning with a T-5 at Kapalua. After the FedEx Cup Playoffs, however, he picked up a victory at the Shriners Children’s Open and followed up with a T-9 at the CJ Cup. The winter break may have done the highly active Im a bit of good.
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