Sentry Tournament of Champions Winner’s Circle: July

DETROIT, MICHIGAN - JULY 31: Tony Finau of the United States plays his shot from the fourth tee during the final round of the Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club on July 31, 2022 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images)

Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii – The only way to qualify for a trip to the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Maui is to win on the PGA TOUR. With their recent victories, J.T. Poston, Trey Mullinax, Chez Reavie, and Tony Finau became the most recent players to qualify for the winners-only event, while Xander Schauffele and Cameron Smith each picked up their third win of the calendar year at the Genesis Scottish Open and The Open Championship, respectively. The Sentry Tournament of Champions returns to The Plantation Course at Kapalua, Jan. 4-8, 2023.

John Deere Classic

Poston won the John Deere Classic by three strokes over Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Emiliano Grillo to earn his second career TOUR title and first since the 2019 Wyndham Championship. The North Carolina native’s victory in his fifth appearance at the event marked the third wire-to-wire winner in tournament history, first since David Frost in 1992, and second wire-to-wire winner this calendar year (Joaquin Niemann/The Genesis Invitational). The win qualified the 29-year-old for his second trip to The Plantation Course at Kapalua where he finished T11 in 2020 in his lone appearance at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

Barbasol Championship

Mullinax defeated Kevin Streelman by one stroke to capture his first career PGA TOUR victory at the Barbasol Championship in his 106th career start. The 30-year-old played a blemish-free back nine, including a final-hole birdie from 15 feet to shoot 6-under 66 and become the second player to make the Barbasol Championship his first TOUR title (Greyson Murray/2017). The Alabama native played three seasons on TOUR before being placed on a minor medical exemption to start the 2019-20 season and regained his TOUR card for the 2021-22 season by finishing in the top 50 on the Korn Ferry Tour after a win (his second on the Korn Ferry Tour) at the Orange County National Championship presented by Knight 39 in 2020. His recent victory qualified Mullinax for his first trip to the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

Genesis Scottish Open

Schauffele carded a final-round even-par 70 to defeat Kurt Kitayama by one stroke at the Genesis Scottish Open to earn his seventh career TOUR victory in his 135th start. Following his win at the Travelers Championship, the 28-year-old has won in back-to-back starts for the second time in his career (2018 WGC-HSBC Championship, 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions). The Las Vegas resident became the fifth American winner of the Genesis Scottish Open, joining Michael Allen (1989), Tom Lehman (1997), Phil Mickelson (2013), and Rickie Fowler (2015). The 2019 Sentry Tournament of Champions winner previously qualified for his sixth trip to Maui by virtue of his victory at the Zurich Classic of New Orleans, partnering with Patrick Cantlay. Schauffele holds three top-five finishes in five appearances at the winners-only event (2018/T22; 2019/Won; 2020/T2; 2021/T5; 2022/12).

Barracuda Championship

Reavie won the Barracuda Championship defeating Alex Noren by one point to earn his third TOUR title and his first since the 2019 Travelers Championship. The Barracuda Championship employed the Modified Stableford scoring format in which players are allocated points based on the number of strokes taken at each hole with the goal of achieving the highest overall score. At 40 years old, Reavie became the oldest winner on TOUR this calendar year and the first player in his 40s to win on TOUR since Lucas Glover (2021 John Deere Classic). The victory qualified the Arizona resident for his third trip to the Sentry Tournament of Champions (2009/T12; 2020/T27).

The Open Championship

Making his 25th major championship appearance, Smith defeated Cameron Young by one stroke to win the 150th Open Championship for his sixth win on TOUR and his first major championship title. Smith’s 268 was the lowest winning score by a champion at St. Andrews (269, Tiger Woods, 2000) and he joined Jack Nicklaus (1978) as the only players to win THE PLAYERS Championship and The Open in the same year. The 28-year-old previously qualified for his fourth trip to Maui by virtue of his victory at the 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions (2018/T7, 2021/T24, 2022/Won).

3M Open

Finau entered the final round five-strokes back to set the 3M Open record for largest final-round comeback defeating Sungjae Im and Emiliano Grillo for his third career TOUR win in his 212th start. The 32-year-old’s three stroke victory is the largest margin of victory in tournament history which came in his fourth tournament start marking his second event top-five (T3/2020). The win qualified the Utah native for his fourth trip to the Sentry Tournament of Champions, where he holds two top-25 finishes (2017/T9; 2021/T31; 2022/T19). Finau was eligible for the event on Maui last year due to the additional category for the 2021 event only created due to the PGA TOUR’s changes to the professional golf calendar as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Rocket Mortgage Classic

Finau won his fourth TOUR title, and second in as many weeks, with a five-stroke victory over Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Young, and Taylor Pendrith at the Rocket Mortgage Classic. The Utah native became the first player to win back-to-back weeks during the FedExCup Regular Season since Brendon Todd in 2019. En route to his victory, Finau hit a career-high 66 of 72 greens in regulation, tying third-most on TOUR since 1980 (69/Peter Jacobsen/1995 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, 67/Willie Wood/1996 Sanderson Farms Championship).

The first TOUR event of the calendar year, the Sentry Tournament of Champions is the only event on the schedule that features all winners from the previous calendar year. For more information about the 2023 event, please visit SentryTournamentOfChampions.com. Fans are encouraged to follow Sentry Tournament of Champions on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.