Matt Cooper takes a look at the first PGA Tour event of 2023.

It’s a new year but not quite a new season for the PGA Tour, which is already nine events into the 2022/23 campaign. There are, however, new aspects to come starting with this week’s Tournament of Champions, which is one of 17 elite tournaments on the schedule that are guaranteed to have both high-class fields and significant prize funds. As such, the event reverts to its misleading post-Covid format, which means last year’s top 30 in the rankings earn an invite in addition to all the winners.

What can we expect for the PGA Tour in 2023? First-time winners maybe? At the top of the most-likely list are Cameron Young (a five-time runner-up in the last 15 months), the exciting Sahith Theegala, Bermuda-grass specialist Denny McCarthy and the ultra-consistent Taylor Montgomery (a 12-time top-10 finisher on all tours last year). The first two are in this week’s field.

What about first-time major championship winners (there were three of them last year)? Good friends Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay lead that list. The former has always thrived in majors, recording nine top 10s in 22 starts; the latter has just three in 23 but the quality is no doubt there. Neither can quite match the stunning introduction to the majors produced by Will Zalatoris, who has six top 10s in eight appearances as a pro including no less than three second-placed finishes.

The thrilling Korean star Tom Kim and Max Homa, whose first two PGA Tour wins came on major-hosting courses, will also be looking to take their careers to the next level.

The sport itself will be wondering how a second year of the LIV Golf dispute plays out. Just how poisonous will the situation be when everyone travels down Magnolia Lane? That will be revealed in three months’ time after the game has made a journey from Hawaii to the West Coast, then on to Florida, also taking in a DP World Tour venture to the Middle East, plus the elite get-togethers at THE PLAYERS Championship and WGC Match Play.

It’s a varied route that takes in history, distinction and intrigue, an annual adventure that is threatened by the desire of the would-be innovators and their copycats for endless assemblies of small fields of the world’s very best. The wilful idiocy of a view that craves similarity over diversity.

But what of this week? Here are three to follow.

Each Way – Justin Thomas at 11/1

As you’d expect with 17 of the world’s top 20 players in the field, the top of the market is tightly packed and much as you’d predict with regard to the prices. But one name stands out for me and that is the two-time tournament winner Justin Thomas. The 29-year-old is among the outsiders in the top five, a position prompted by a low-key end to 2022, however, I’m happy to overlook that, partly because he and Jordan Spieth won The Match against Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy, but more realistically because he’s an undoubtedly elite performer who could quite easily emerge from Christmas refreshed and revived.

Moreover, Thomas has a superb record in Hawaii and an especially strong one at Plantation. His first visit to Hawaii saw him card a 61 in the Sony Open, an event he won two years later following a first round 59. That result came a week after he won this event, he added a second victory in 2020 and in his last six starts on this course he’s only once ended the week outside the top five. I’d have him second favourite.

Each Way – Jordan Spieth at 30/1

Plantation is an undulating layout, a factor that not only produces many holes that sweep downhill and many that climb steep slopes, but also a whole host of uphill, downhill and sidehill lies for approach shots. It’s not an especially common detail but Augusta National is somewhat similar, to a less degree TPC Deere Run is, and Innisbrook also features elevation changes. Golfers who play those three courses well often perform nicely at Plantation and that leads us to Jordan Spieth.

He’s not only won at Augusta National, he also has another four top three finishes there. He’s a two-time champion at Deere Run and has also lifted a trophy at Innisbrook. Rather more straightforwardly he finished second on debut at Plantation, won on his second visit and was third when defending.

First Round Leader Each Way – Sahith Theegala at 33/1

He might struggle to lift his first PGA Tour title this week, but young tyro Sahith Theegala can contend and I’m taking him to make a bold start. He was an impressive rookie last season and much of his best golf was played at venues which hint that he might be suited this week.

At TPC Deere Run, for example, he made a very poor start on debut last summer before absolutely flying through the field for a top 20. He also finished seventh at Innisbrook. Plantation also demands aggression, much like TPC Scottsdale where Theegala very nearly triumphed in February. Finally, he was second last time out at Sea Island and the last two winners at Plantation landed top six finishes there ahead of triumph in Hawaii.