PGA’s Tournament of Champions field at Kapalua is deeper than ever

Eight of the top 10 in the current World Golf Ranking and defending Sony Open in Hawaii champion Hideki Matsuyama are among the 39 PGA Tour players in the field for next week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions event in Kapalua, Maui.

For the first time, the top 30 players from the final 2022 FedExCup standings qualified for the TOC field, in addition to the previous calendar year winners.

World No. 1 Rory McIlroy is the only player who qualified for the event who did not commit.

Past FedExCup champions Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Adam Scott are in the field, as are World No. 2 Scottie Scheffler, No. 5 Jon Rahm, No. 6 Xander Schauffele and No. 7 Will Zalatoris.

Not appearing in the tournament is defending champion Cameron Smith, who left the PGA Tour to join LIV Golf after winning the Open Championship last summer.

He is the first TOC winner not to show up to defend his title.

Geoff Oglivy came over to play in 2011 but couldn’t compete after injuring his finger in an ocean accident that required stitches.

The tournament was founded in 1953 and moved to Kapalua in 1999.

The Tournament of Champions is one of a number of PGA Tour events this year to offer increased purses and secure commitments from the Tour’s top players this season.

This year’s winner will receive $2.7 million out of a $15 million purse divided among the 39 players.

Smith received $1.476 million for winning the event last year. The total purse was $8.2 million.

The first round of the TOC starts Thursday on the Plantation Course.