Nothing better than opening the season to start a new year in Hawaii, especially with the best names* in the game. Of course, some — like the past two defending champions at Kapalua — are playing on the LIV tour, so don’t expect to see Jon Rahm or Cam Smith. Do expect to see Scottie Scheffler and 58 other top golfers, including recent champions over the previous season. In a short field with top heavy talent, it’s important to find the best value in a long shot. Overall, this is not a course friendly to first-timers, so we will try and hone in on talent and course experience. Here is the best The Sentry long shot bets for this PGA kickstarter event.
2024 The Sentry Long Shot Bets
With just 59 golfers in the field there isn’t going to be any 100-1 outright smash, but there is a way to defend against the chalk while hitting a decent bet. There’s a golfer sitting currently at 75-1 who has experience at the Plantation course, finishing T-21 last year, and comes off a hot stretch of golf in the fall. On top of Sepp Straka playing incredible golf over his past four events, there’s a solid fit at this course that should benefit him this time around, if anything the experience of a near T-20 finish last year will help.
The course is not as demanding as it’s near 7600 yard layout may seem. Driving distance isn’t as important as scoring on longer Par 3’s and getting in on accurate approach shots. Like nearly every event, putting will come in play – primarily not losing strokes on the green to a highly talented field. Straka is going to have to gain strokes on aggressive shots to establish any early lead, the risk comes with any failure or miss on those shots.
That simply hasn’t been the case with recent outings with Straka, making his 75-1 number even more appealing with this field. He finished 2nd at the Hero, before a T-22, T-10, and T-14. He’s gaining strokes in key areas that will help him stay atop a leaderboard, primarily on the green and approach shots. With accuracy being more important than raw distance, Straka has been deadly getting to the green and putting himself in positions to score. He’s been playing too well to collapse and isn’t afraid of the bigger names. Take Straka as this week’s long shot!
Best Long Shot Outright Winner: Sepp Straka (+7500, PointsBet)
Honorable Mention: Sungjae Im
Just a quick shout here for Im who has played this event well in the past. He’s finished T-13, T-8, and T-5 over the past three years, and ended the stretch from August through October on an absolute tear. He’s still at 35-1 which is a fair number here in this talented group of golfers, but he’s been atop this field before and is playing well enough to get there this weekend.
He gained strokes across the board in each of his last four stroke events on tour, then finished 2nd in Korea at the Genesis. This is the perfect combination of a golfer coming in hot, gaining strokes where it matters most at Kapaula, and prior experience finishing near the top. Take Im at 35-1.
