The 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions is the first major golf tournament of the new year, and amateur and professional bettors alike will be tuned in. A total of 34 of the 37 golfers who won a PGA event last season will tee it up at this week's event, which gets underway on Thursday at Kapalua Plantation Course in Hawaii. The Sentry Tournament of Champions tee times begin at 3 p.m. ET with Satoshi Kodaira and Cameron Champ heading to the first hole. Defending champion Dustin Johnson, who tees at 5:40 p.m. ET, is the Vegas favorite at 5-1, while Jon Rahm is a close second at 7-1 in the latest 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions odds. 2016 champion Justin Thomas and World No. 1 Brooks Koepka are going off at 8-1. Before locking in any 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions picks and predictions or entering any PGA DFS tournament on sites like FanDuel and DraftKings, be sure to check out the predictions and projected leaderboard from the team at SportsLine.
SportsLine's prediction model, which was built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has nailed four of the past eight majors entering the weekend and called Woods' deep run in the PGA Championship despite being a 25-1 long shot.
The proprietary computer model has been dead-on early in the 2018-19 PGA season as well. It was all over Jon Rahm (12-1) at the 2018 Hero World Challenge, projecting him as a top contender from the start. It also correctly predicted Brooks Koepka's (9-1) victory at the 2018 CJ Cup earlier this season. Anyone who has followed the model is up huge.
Now that the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions field is locked, SportsLine simulated the event 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. One huge shocker the model is calling for this week: Johnson, the 5-1 favorite to win this event, fails in his bid to repeat.
Thus far in the 2018-19 PGA season, Johnson finished 30th in the WGC-HSBC Champions event in October and then took seventh in the Hero World Challenge, an unofficial event. Although he won this event last year, he's taken down just two tournaments on tour since that point and had just one top-five finish in his final five events last season. There are far better values to be had in this loaded Sentry Tournament of Champions 2019 field.
Another surprise: Cameron Champ, a 20-1 long shot, makes a strong run at the title. He's a target for anyone looking for a huge payday.
Champ enters 2019 playing as well as any golfer on the PGA Tour. He earned his first career PGA Tour victory earlier this season at the Sanderson Farms Championship after shooting four consecutive rounds under par. He also finished inside the top 10 at the Mayakoba Golf Classic and RSM Classic.
Champ is a long ball hitter who averages over 328 yards per drive, which is tops on the PGA Tour. His ability to drive the ball deep into the fairway allows him to use his short irons to approach the green. That lethal combination has allowed Champ to rank inside the top 10 in both birdie average (5.85) and scoring average (68.968) this season. He can make up ground in a hurry and should be on your radar at the Sentry Tournament of Champions 2019.
Also, the model says four additional golfers with odds of 12-1 or longer make a strong run at the title. Anyone who bets on these underdogs could hit it big.
So who wins the 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions? And which long shots stun the golfing world? Check out the odds below and visit SportsLine now to see the full 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions projected leaderboard from the model that nailed the winners of four golf majors.
Dustin Johnson 5-1
Jon Rahm 7-1
Justin Thomas 8-1
Brooks Koepka 8-1
Rory McIlroy 10-1
Bryson DeChambeau 12-1
Jason Day 12-1
Patrick Reed 16-1
Cameron Champ 20-1
Francesco Molinari 20-1
Webb Simpson 20-1
Xander Schauffele 20-1
Gary Woodland 25-1
Marc Leishman 25-1
Paul Casey 30-1
Bubba Watson 30-1
Aaron Wise 30-1
