Ready for some prime time golf?
Ready for some temperatures in the mid-70s, balmy breezes and plenty of golf talent on display?
Welcome to the 2017 Tournament of Champions on the Plantation Course at Kapalua, a place that seems like a home-away-from-home for defending champion Jordan Spieth.
Spieth and 31 other players will play in prime time on the Golf Channel, starting Thursday evening, a welcome viewing relief for those unfortunate golfers buried in snow or forced indoors by frigid weather.
Scoring conditions should be just about right for Spieth, who plundered the Plantation last year when he shot 66-64-65-67 for an eye-popping 30-under par winning effort.
He was a full eight shots in front of runner-up and Ryder Cup teammate Patrick Reed, whose 22-under par looked good enough to win on most weeks. But not at Kapalua.
Why are the scores so low?
First consider that the Plantation course has the widest fairways on the PGA Tour. If that’s not enough for you, the Plantation Course also has the biggest greens in terms of square footage. And that’s where Spieth comes into play. Strength of his game is that magnificent putting stroke of his and last year his lag-putting was spot-on and that’s where the demand is at this season opener.
What this event did not show last year was that Spieth was on his way down the stat list in driving accuracy and accuracy with his irons. Fairways were too wise to not hit them, greens too large to miss, even with off-line iron shots.
Given the facts, this one turns into a massive putting contest. Advantage Spieth. He has a tasty 67.0 scoring average on the Plantation Course.
Spieth likes to bring his family to Hawaii for a vacation while he gets in some good-weather practice time. The weather can get pretty testy in Dallas this time of year and nothing says warm weather like Kapalua. Good plan — beach for the family — practice tee time for Jordy.
He’ll have some pretty good competition on hand although not all the winners from last season will start their year in Kapalua.
Jason Day and Dustin Johnson are in the field and that means that numbers one, three and five are on hand. The final pairing on Thursday will be great for prime-time, featuring Johnson paired with Speith while Day will go with Reed in the next-to-last group.
Missing is world’s No. 2, Rory McIlroy. He’ll start his year next week on the European Tour at the South African Open, making good on a promise he gave Ernie Els, the tournament’s host.
Reed, runner-up to Spieth and No. 8 in the rankings, is back along with No. 10 Bubba Watson, who will make his debut with that shiny, crystal-coated Volvik golf ball as he becomes the most high-profile player to hit it.
The guy to watch, besides Spieth, however, is Hideki Matsuyama.
If you go by his finishes in 2016, it is Matsuyama, not Spieth, who is the guy to beat this week. Hideki’s been the hottest guy on the planet and look for a lot of Japanese spectators in the galleries this week.
Johnson and Jimmy Walker put two of the four major champions from 2016 in the field. Danny Willett (Masters) and Henrik Stenson (Open Championship) are not there.
Day will make his debut wearing his new Nike gear but it is the health of his body that has drawn more attention than his clothes. Day has been on the sidelines since withdrawing from the second round of the Tour Championship last year.
Put it all together and you have enough great players and a birdie-friendly golf course that should make the start to the ’17 season well worth the watch.
(Television Times, Thursday thru Sunday, 6 p.m. to 10 p.m. The Golf Channel).
