Dustin Johnson’s November-December vacation will end this week — the world’s No. 1 and newest Masters champion will tee it up at Kapalua in the Tournament Of Champions.
Nice to see D.J. out of hibernation, emerging from the celebration mode that winning The Masters surely warranted.
But when you’re the solid, entrenched world’s No. 1 — people want to see your skills, they want to watch you go about hitting golf shots, hitting them so well that you banked north of $23 million in 2020. We’ve heard over and over “good riddance to 2020!” Not sure D.J. would be on board with that although he tested positive for “The Virus” last year and missed some playing time but that sure didn’t stop him from winning his second major by a whopping five shots last November.
D.J. isn’t the only star shining this coming week at Kapaula resort’s Plantation Course. No. 2 Jon Rahm is showing up in paradise along with defending champion Justin Thomas and our “Newsmaker Of The Year” — Bryson DeChambeau.
Who’s not showing up at this year’s Tournament Of Champions? Rory McIlroy for one. Rory went winless in 2020 but he would have made it via this year’s entry for 17 players from the Tour Championship who weren’t otherwise eligible to compete in this winners-only event. Our “Breakout Player Of The Year” won’t be there either. Tyrrell Hatton’s skipping this freebie.
Another player who would have been at Kapalua was involuntarily eliminated from the field — Jim Herman. Herman tested positive for COVID and sadly he’ll miss the guaranteed payday. Thus the field of 45 becomes 42 and it’s wonderful — everyone gets paid and paid well. Such a deal — a week or so in paradise and you get paid to show up.
Last season was a strange one yet the PGA Tour survived quite well and was, in fact, the first professional sport to return to action after the Commish Jay Monhan (aka The Sheriff of Nottingham) pulled the plug after one round at the Players Championship last March. Things worked out quite well with this no spectators stuff. Responses were varied, some players moaned that they were having a tough time getting revved up without the crowds. Rory was one of them and basically Rory saved his fans the reality of being let-down in person. Rory’s a tease. He plays well, looks like a tournament winner, then he doesn’t. Such is the life of a Rory McIlroy fan. Hope floats, then it doesn’t.
For Rory’s followers, they’ll have to wait a few weeks to see their man. He’ll start his year in Abu Dhabi at the HSBC Championship on January 21st.
As it is, we’ll have to settle for eight of the world’s top 10 this week. An important side-note to this season-premier is that the last four winners went on to have good seasons — they all made it to the top five in the season-ending points standings for the FedEx Cup.
As for D.J. — how’s this for consistency — his his last seven events of 2020, he had three wins and three seconds. His worst finish was a tie for sixth.
So what we have here is a unique opportunity for someone to get that first win of 2021 on their resume.
Good news is that D.J. only needs to beat 41 other players, a few of whom haven’t won on the PGA Tour.
A trip to Hawaii, guaranteed good payday — what a way to kickstart your 2021 season.
All upside, no downside.
Happy New Year.
12 Comments
RM
Hey,
Happy New Year, Tom, and thanks for your coverage in Dogleg.
I love this week because it means (as much as possible in the current era) that real golf is back. The course and ambiance seems beautiful to a mid-Atlantic guy like myself where the prevailing weather now is grey and raw, the field is usually solid, there are real tournaments each week as opposed to reruns, and most things are seemingly possible.
Tom Edrington
RM: I know how you feel after years of living in Northern Virginia in high school, I know what those gray, chilly skies feel like; I think everyone will enjoy the renovations at Kapalua, thanks for checking in with us and best wishes for a great year of happiness and golf!
RM
Thanks, Tom! Right back atya.
Tom Edrington
Roger that, RM!
golf1234
Agree with RM, here in Oregon, Grey, cool and you guessed it RAIN> Can’t wait for all the tours to get kick started, albeit probably with a Covid 2020 hangover . Plugging my new shaft in my Driver, Project X Even Flow, awesome, watch out Bryson lol.
Fairways and Greens
Tom Edrington
That is an excellent shaft…..no fans for the near future although Waste Management wants to put up those stands for those who like to over-imbibe…..Will take a look at the upcoming year for Wednesday’s newsletter….Thanks for checking in and I recommend Zero Restrictions for your raingear out there in Oregon!
baxter cepeda
Only down side I can see it’s a long trip for some big names, especially those with euro ties like rory and tyrell, whom are usually traveling the opposite way from The Islands.
Tom Edrington
Rory’s in Florida, bet Tyrrell is as well……obviously there’s no quarantine on people coming into Hawaii….
baxter cepeda
Yea but they need to keep the air miles down over the course of a year; just planning ahead.
Remember Jordan spieths downturn started when he started traveling all over the world.
As you know There have been many a player whom have slowed down taking too many long trips, which Florida to Maui is a long trip in itself.
These have to fly to Europe and elsewhere a lot; which is why they must be avoiding this event. At least I would avoid this event for that reason and that reason only if I were them.
Tom Edrington
Baxter, most of the big boys fly PRIVATE aviation, which is a thing of beauty; If I won the lottery, I’d buy NetJet hours……leave when you want, no layovers, perhaps stop for fuel, but very stress free compared to flying commercial, even first class.
baxter cepeda
I understand.
But it’s been well documented that Even taking that into account we see top players, especially tiger, avoid certain tournaments to reduce time in the air.
Why else would tiger stop going to Kapalua. He could have won that event 10 times by now.
Tom Edrington
Tiger didn’t need the money and he always liked to start his season at Torrey Pines, didn’t he?