The PGA Tour is back in session with the Sentry Tournament of Champions wrapping up this weekend in Maui at Kapalua with a pumped up $15 million purse up for grabs. The winner of the limited-field 39 competitor event, the first of the tour’s “elevated” events with significantly ratcheted up paydays, will pocket a cool $2.7 million, almost double the 2022 winner’s check.
The Plantation Course’s wide-open fairways, ample greens and plethora of breezy short par 4s and reachable par 5s—with the exception of the showstopping 675 yard closer—provide birdie opps aplenty. The lowest four-round score since the venue began hosting the tourney in 1999 is an astonishing 34-under performance. So, the resort course is a bit of a cakewalk for top pros but it’s also a catwalk as many players strut the fairways sporting fresh logos, the fruit of newly minted sponsorship deals.
Rising star Tom Kim, who won the Wyndham Championship and the Shriners Children’s Open in his rookie campaign is now all swooshed out, thanks to a deal with the Beaverton, Oregon-based sportswear giant to wear Nike NKE apparel and shoes.
“The clothes fit great and it's a great new look. So, I'm confident and kind of proud to wear the logo,” he said.
Golf fans tuning into the action in Hawaii will also be saying ‘aloha’ to some new equipment like TaylorMade’s Stealth 2 driver. Scottie Scheffler described his transition to the new club as pretty seamless. He’s been been smitten with it since testing the new stick out at The Kingdom, the company’s fitting facility in Carlsbad, so was very eager for a chance to put it into play.
“If I was hitting it left, the ball would always kind of hang left, and then if one head was going too far right, the ball would kind of hang there. The thing I noticed and was excited about was how stable it was,” Scheffler commented.
Callaway’s brand new Paradym line of clubs are also in top tour action for the first time with Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele and Sam Burns among the players who have the brand new carbon-fiber chassis clubs in their bags. Today, the OEM also announced a multi-year contract extension with four-time NBA champion Steph Curry whose Underrated Golf Tour will be unveiling the details of their sophomore season in the coming months.
Meanwhile Trey Mullinax, who punched his ticket to the TOC by winning the Barbasol Championship and was formerly an equipment ambassador free agent is now sporting a Wilson hat and playing the equipment maker’s Staff Model blade irons and wedges. Four-time PGA Tour winner Kevin Kisner, who is not in action this weekend and was previously with Callaway has also joined Wilson’s tour staff.
“I am excited to be partnering with Wilson Golf. Wilson is a brand I’ve always respected, rooted in heritage but always looking for new ways to evolve,” Kisner said in a statement. “I’m quite particular about my equipment, and the clubs I’ll be putting into play after extensive testing are second to none.”
Of course some golfers are looking a little lighter in the logo department. Patrick Cantlay, ranked No. 4 in the world, has severed ties with Hugo Boss and is sporting an all-black tour bag sans-Titleist script.
