The Tournament of Champions, currently titled as The Sentry, is the calendar-year opening tournament of

golf Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various Golf club, clubs to hit a Golf ball, ball into a series of holes on a golf course, course in as few strokes as possible. Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standa ...

PGA Tour The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champion ...

season, played in

Hawaii Hawaii ( ; ) is an island U.S. state, state of the United States, in the Pacific Ocean about southwest of the U.S. mainland. One of the two Non-contiguous United States, non-contiguous U.S. states (along with Alaska), it is the only sta ...

on the island of

Maui Maui (; Hawaiian language, Hawaiian: ) is the second largest island in the Hawaiian archipelago, at 727.2 square miles (1,883 km2). It is the List of islands of the United States by area, 17th-largest in the United States. Maui is one of ...

. The tournament was founded in 1953; for most of its history the field was restricted to golfers who won a tournament on the tour during the previous calendar year, but players who qualified for the preceding

Tour Championship The Tour Championship (stylized as the TOUR Championship) is a golf tournament that is part of the PGA Tour. It has historically been one of the final events of the PGA Tour season; prior to 2007, its field consisted exclusively of the top 30 ...

are now invited as well. From

1986 The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal en ...

through

2013 2013 was the first year since 1987 to contain four unique digits (a span of 26 years). 2013 was designated as: *International Year of Water Cooperation *International Year of Quinoa Events January * January 5 – 2013 Craig, Alask ...

, it was the opening event of each tour season; the PGA Tour switched to its wrap-around season (starting season in September and ending in August) in the fall of 2013. In 2025, Hideki Matsuyama shot the lowest 72-hole to-par score in the history of the

(−35) to win the tournament.

History

The tournament is held during the first week of January and, since

1999 1999 was designated as the International Year of Older Persons. Events January * January 1 – The euro currency is established and the European Central Bank assumes its full powers. * January 3 – The Mars Polar Lander is launc ...

, has been played over the Plantation Course at the Kapalua Resort near

Lahaina Lahaina (; ) or Lāhainā is a census-designated place (CDP) in Maui County, Hawaii, United States. On the northwest coast of the island of Maui, it encompasses Lahaina town and the Kaanapali, Hawaii, Kaanapali and Kapalua, Hawaii, Kapalua beac ...

on the island of

. Unlike most PGA Tour events, it is a par 73 course. Previous venues have been the Desert Inn Country Club in

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a landlocked state in the Western United States. It borders Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the seventh-most extensive, th ...

, from the event's inception until 1966, and the Stardust Country Club, also in Las Vegas, in

1967 Events January * January 1 – Canada begins a year-long celebration of the 100th anniversary of Canadian Confederation, Confederation, featuring the Expo 67 World's Fair. * January 6 – Vietnam War: United States Marine Corps and Army of ...

and

1968 Events January–February * January 1968, January – The I'm Backing Britain, I'm Backing Britain campaign starts spontaneously. * January 5 – Prague Spring: Alexander Dubček is chosen as leader of the Communist Party of Cze ...

. For the following thirty years, it was played at La Costa Resort and Spa in

Carlsbad, California Carlsbad is a beach city in the North County area of San Diego County, California, United States. The city is north of downtown San Diego and south of downtown Los Angeles. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of ...

; it moved from May in

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

to January in 1986, and relocated to Maui in 1999. The tournament has had several title sponsors, the first being Mutual of New York (MONY) between

1975 It was also declared the ''International Women's Year'' by the United Nations and the European Architectural Heritage Year by the Council of Europe. Events January * January 1 – Watergate scandal (United States): John N. Mitchell, H. R. ...

and

1990 Important events of 1990 include the Reunification of Germany and the unification of Yemen, the formal beginning of the Human Genome Project (finished in 2003), the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, the separation of Namibia from South ...

. After three years of sponsorship by

Infiniti (stylized in all caps) is the luxury vehicle division of the Japanese automaker Nissan. The brand began on November 8, 1989, initially in North America. The marketing network for Infiniti vehicles included dealers in over 50 countries in the 201 ...

, German car maker

Mercedes-Benz Mercedes-Benz (), commonly referred to simply as Mercedes and occasionally as Benz, is a German automotive brand that was founded in 1926. Mercedes-Benz AG (a subsidiary of the Mercedes-Benz Group, established in 2019) is based in Stuttgart, ...

began a sixteen-year association with the event and the Tournament of Champions name was dropped. In 2010 the tournament entered a new ten-year agreement with Korean broadcasting company

Seoul Broadcasting System Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS; ) is one of the leading Television in South Korea, South Korean television and radio broadcasters. The broadcaster legally became known as SBS in March 2000, changing its corporate name from Seoul Broadcasting ...

, with the tournament being renamed as the SBS Championship.

Hyundai Hyundai is a former South Korean industrial conglomerate ("''chaebol''"), which was restructured into the following groups: * Hyundai Group, parts of the former conglomerate which have not been divested ** Hyundai Asan, a real estate construction ...

took over title sponsorship in 2011 with SBS remaining a sponsor. In 2017, SBS became title sponsor again after Hyundai took over title sponsorship of the PGA Tour event at Riviera Country Club. Sentry Insurance signed on as the event's title sponsor with a five-year agreement starting in 2018, later extended through 2030. From

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

, the tournament used a Friday–Monday format, joining the

Deutsche Bank Championship The Dell Technologies Championship, originally the Deutsche Bank Championship, was a professional golf tournament on the PGA Tour that was played annually from 2003 to 2018. It was held in Norton, Massachusetts, United States, over the Labor Day ...

as the only two PGA Tour events with this format. The format allowed the tournament to have its own day to finish, and not compete against the second day of the NFL Wild Card Playoff round. For the

2021 Like the year 2020, 2021 was also heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, due to the emergence of multiple Variants of SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19 variants. The major global rollout of COVID-19 vaccines, which began at the end of 2020, continued ...

tournament, the PGA Tour announced that the field would be expanded to include the 30 players qualifying for the 2020

in addition to tournament winners during the 2020 calendar year. The change was made following the cancellation of ten tournaments due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. The 2022 edition reverted to the usual winners-only field, but the addition of Tour Championship qualifiers was made permanent in 2023. The tournament had a name change for 2024 as a result, dropping the traditional Tournament of Champions name again. For the

2025 So far, the year has seen the continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudanese civil war, and the Gaza war. Internal crises in Bangladesh post-resignation v ...

tournament, The Sentry will be an official Signature Event. By rule, the 50 players who qualified for the 2024 BMW Championship, in addition to all winner of the previous year, are eligible. In addition, if a player who qualified for the BMW Championship is deemed not in good standing and ineligible to participate on the PGA Tour, the 51st place player in FedEx Cup standings will be elevated, and so forth.

Television

While being played at LaCosta, the weekend rounds were traditionally televised by

ABC Sports ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment and media Broadcasting * Aliw Broadcasting Corporation, Philippine broadcast company * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial America ...

. However, after moving to Hawaii in 1999, the time difference was not conducive to network television. The event moved to ABC's cable partner

ESPN ESPN (an initialism of their original name, which was the Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by the Walt Disney Company (80% and operational control) and Hearst Commu ...

for four-round coverage. In 2007, the event moved to four-round coverage on the

Golf Channel Golf Channel (also verbally referred to as simply "Golf" or "NBC Golf") is an American sports television network owned by the NBC Sports Group division of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. Founded in Birmingham, Alabama, it is currently ba ...

. In 2012,

NBC Sports NBC Sports is an American programming division for NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, that is responsible for sports broadcasts on their broadcast network NBC, the Cable television, cable channels NBC owns, and on Peacock (streaming service) ...

began showing weekend play, while also producing the new Monday final round for sister network Golf Channel. Starting in 2018, Thursday-Sunday coverage split between Golf Channel and NBC, with the latter picking up weekend coverage when not in conflict with the network's broadcasts of NFL playoff games.

Winners

''Note: Green highlight indicates scoring records.''

Tournament highlights

*1953: Al Besselink wins the inaugural Tournament of Champions (TOC) by one shot over Chandler Harper. *1955:

Gene Littler Gene Alec Littler (July 21, 1930 – February 15, 2019) was an American professional golfer and a member of the World Golf Hall of Fame. Known for a solid temperament and nicknamed "Gene the Machine" for his smooth, rhythmical swing, he once sai ...

is victorious at the TOC for the first time. He wins by 13 shots over Pete Cooper,

Jerry Barber Carl Jerome Barber (April 25, 1916 – September 23, 1994) was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour. He had seven wins on tour, including a major title, the PGA Championship in 1961. Early life Born in Woodson, Illinois, ...

, and Bob Toski. *1957: For the third consecutive year, Gene Littler is victorious at the TOC. He finishes three shots ahead of

Billy Casper William Earl Casper Jr. (June 24, 1931 – February 7, 2015) was an American professional golfer. He was one of the most prolific tournament winners on the PGA Tour from the mid-1950s to the mid-1970s. In his youth, Casper started as a caddie a ...

, Jimmy Demaret,

Dow Finsterwald Dow Henry Finsterwald, Sr. (September 6, 1929 – November 4, 2022) was an American professional golfer who is best known for winning the 1958 PGA Championship, 1958 PGA Championship. He won 11 Tour titles between 1955 and 1963, played on four Ry ...

, and

Billy Maxwell Billy Joe Maxwell (July 23, 1929 – September 20, 2021) was an American professional golfer. Maxwell was born in Abilene, Texas. He played college golf at North Texas State College and helped them win four consecutive NCAA Division I team c ...

. *1959:

Mike Souchak Michael Souchak (May 10, 1927 – July 10, 2008) was an American professional golfer. He won fifteen events on the PGA Tour in the 1950s and 1960s and represented the United States for the Ryder Cup in 1959 and 1961. Early life Born and raised ...

wins by two shots over

Art Wall Jr. Arthur Jonathan Wall Jr. (November 25, 1923 – October 31, 2001) was an American professional golfer, best known for winning the Masters Tournament in 1959. Early life and amateur career Wall was born and raised in Honesdale, Pennsylvania. He ...

in spite of his shooting a final round 77. *1960: Jerry Barber shoots 268, a TOC tournament mark for its time in Las Vegas, four shots ahead of Jay Hebert. *1962:

Arnold Palmer Arnold Daniel Palmer (September 10, 1929 – September 25, 2016) was an American professional golfer who is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most charismatic players in the sport's history. Since embarking on a professional career in ...

earns his first TOC title. He birdies the 72nd hole to finish one shot ahead of Billy Casper. *1963:

Jack Nicklaus Jack William Nicklaus (; born January 21, 1940), nicknamed "the Golden Bear", is an American retired professional golfer and List of golf courses designed by Jack Nicklaus, golf course designer. He is widely considered to be one of the greate ...

wins the TOC for the first time. He finishes five shots ahead of

Tony Lema Anthony David Lema (February 25, 1934 – July 24, 1966) was an American professional golfer who rose to fame in the mid-1960s and won a major title, the 1964 Open Championship at the Old Course at St Andrews in Scotland. He died two years later ...

and

. *1966: Arnold Palmer successfully defends his TOC title by defeating

Gay Brewer Gay Robert Brewer Jr. (March 19, 1932 – August 31, 2007) was an American professional golfer who played on the PGA Tour and won the 1967 Masters Tournament. Career Brewer turned professional in 1956 and made his first cut, at the Agua Calie ...

69 to 73 in an 18-hole playoff. For Brewer, it's his second 18-hole playoff loss in a week. In the tournament prior to the TOC, The 1966 Masters Tournament, Brewer was defeated by Jack Nicklaus. *1967: Frank Beard prevents Arnold Palmer from winning a third straight TOC. He holes a seven-foot par putt on the 72nd hole to win by one shot over Palmer. *1969:

Gary Player Gary James Player (born 1 November 1935) is a South African retired professional golfer who is widely considered to be one of the greatest golfers of all time. During his career, Player won nine major championships on the regular tour and nine ...

wins in the United States for the first time since his 1965 U.S. Open triumph. He finishes two shots ahead of

Lee Trevino Lee Buck Trevino (born December 1, 1939) is an American retired professional golfer who is regarded as one of the greatest players in golf history. He was inducted to the World Golf Hall of Fame in 1981. Trevino won six major championships and ...

. *1972: Bobby Mitchell wins the TOC with a birdie putt on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff with Jack Nicklaus. *1973: Jack Nicklaus wins the TOC for a fourth time, one stroke ahead of Lee Trevino. *1977: Jack Nicklaus collects his fifth and final TOC title with a birdie at the third hole of a sudden-death playoff to defeat Bruce Lietzke. *1978: Just like the week previous at Masters, Gary Player comes back from seven shots behind to win, two shots ahead of

Andy North Andrew Stewart North (born March 9, 1950) is an American professional golfer who had three wins on the PGA Tour, including the U.S. Open twice. Since 1992, he has served as a golf analyst for ESPN. Early life North was born in Thorp, Wisconsi ...

and Lee Trevino. *1980: Tom Watson wins by three shots over

Jim Colbert James Joseph Colbert (born March 9, 1941) is an American professional golfer. Early life and amateur career Colbert was born in Elizabeth, New Jersey. He attended Kansas State University, where he finished second in the NCAA golf championsh ...

. The original margin of victory was five shots but Watson was penalized two shots by tour officials after he was overheard giving advice to his playing partner Lee Trevino. *1981: Lee Trevino earns his first PGA Tour victory in California, two strokes ahead of Raymond Floyd. *1982: Ron Streck comes to the 72nd hole tied with Lanny Wadkins but three-putts to seemingly lose by one shot. After play is finished, Streck is assessed a two-shot penalty for moving a tree branch in his face on the 70th hole. The penalty drops Streck into a four-way tie for second along with Andy Bean, David Graham, and

Craig Stadler Craig Robert Stadler (born June 2, 1953) is an American professional golfer who has won numerous tournaments at both the PGA Tour and Champions Tour level, including one major championship, the 1982 Masters Tournament. Early life Stadler was bo ...

and costs him over $14,000 in prize money. *1985:

Tom Kite Thomas Oliver Kite Jr. (born December 9, 1949) is an American professional golfer and golf course architect. He won the U.S. Open in 1992 and spent 175 weeks in the top-10 of the Official World Golf Ranking between 1989 and 1994. Early life a ...

shoots a first round 64 on his way to a six-shot triumph over Mark McCumber. *1986: Calvin Peete shoots a tournament record 267 and finishes six shots ahead of

Mark O'Meara Mark Francis O'Meara (born January 13, 1957) is an American retired professional golfer. He was a tournament winner on the PGA Tour and around the world from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. He spent nearly 200 weeks in the top-10 of the Offici ...

. *1991: Tom Kite wins his second TOC after Lanny Wadkins three-putts the 71st green from just . *1995: Steve Elkington birdies the second hole of a sudden-death playoff to defeat Bruce Lietzke. During the final round, 54-hole leader

John Huston John Marcellus Huston ( ; August 5, 1906 – August 28, 1987) was an American film director, screenwriter and actor. He wrote the screenplays for most of the 37 feature films he directed, many of which are today considered classics. He rec ...

putted his ball into a lake. *1997:

Tiger Woods Eldrick Tont "Tiger" Woods (born December 30, 1975) is an American professional golfer. He is tied for first in List of golfers with most PGA Tour wins, PGA Tour wins, ranks second in List of men's major championships winning golfers, men's m ...

, the

PGA Player of the Year The PGA Tour (stylized as PGA TOUR by its officials) is the organizer of professional golf tours in North America. It organizes most of the events on the flagship annual series of tournaments also known as the PGA Tour, the PGA Tour Champions ...

for

1997 Events January * January 1 – The Emergency Alert System is introduced in the United States. * January 11 – Turkey threatens Cyprus on account of a deal to buy Russian S-300 missiles, prompting the Cypriot Missile Crisis. * January 1 ...

, birdies the first hole of a sudden-death playoff to defeat Tom Lehman. *1999:

David Duval David Robert Duval (born November 9, 1971) is an American professional golfer and former World No. 1 Golfer who competed on the PGA Tour and currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. Duval won 13 PGA Tour tournaments between 1997 and 2001; inc ...

wins the first edition of the tournament played in Hawaii, nine shots ahead of Mark O'Meara and

Billy Mayfair William Fred Mayfair (born August 6, 1966) is an American professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He was previously a member of the PGA Tour, where he won five times, including at the 1995 Tour Championship. Early years and am ...

. *2000: Tiger Woods wins his fifth consecutive PGA Tour event. He sinks a birdie putt on the second hole of a sudden-death playoff to beat

Ernie Els Theodore Ernest Els (; born 17 October 1969) is a South African professional golfer. A former , he is nicknamed "the Big Easy" due to his physical stature along with his fluid golf swing. Among his more than 70 career victories are four major ...

. *2003: Ernie Els shoots a tournament record 261 on his way to an eight-shot victory over Rocco Mediate and

K. J. Choi Choi Kyung-Ju (; born 19 May 1970), commonly known as K. J. Choi, is a South Korean professional golfer who currently plays on the PGA Tour Champions. Since turning pro in 1994, he has won more than thirty professional golf tournamen ...

. *2006:

Stuart Appleby Stuart Appleby (born 1 May 1971) is an Australian professional golfer who plays on the PGA Tour Champions. He was a nine-time winner on the PGA Tour. Early life Appleby was born in Cohuna, Victoria, and grew up on a nearby dairy farm. He be ...

defeats

Vijay Singh Vijay Singh ( ; born 22 February 1963) is a Fijians, Fijian professional golfer. In 1982, Singh turned professional and played on the local Asia Golf Circuit. However, his early career met with controversy, as he was accused of numerous rules ...

on the first hole of a sudden-death playoff and joins Gene Littler as the only winners of the tournament for three consecutive years. *2010:

Geoff Ogilvy Geoff Charles Ogilvy (born 11 June 1977) is an Australian professional golfer. He won the 2006 U.S. Open and has also won three World Golf Championships. Professional career Ogilvy was born in Adelaide, South Australia, to an English-born fat ...

successfully defends his tournament title, one stroke ahead of Rory Sabbatini. *2025: Hideki Matsuyama set the record for the lowest 72-hole score with a 35 under par. During the final round at the fifth hole, Taylor Pendrith made the first

albatross Albatrosses, of the biological family Diomedeidae, are large seabirds related to the procellariids, storm petrels, and diving petrels in the order Procellariiformes (the tubenoses). They range widely in the Southern Ocean and the North Paci ...

in event history.

Notes

References

External links

Coverage on the PGA Tour's official site
{{Coord, 21.006, N, 156.64, W, display=title, type:event_scale:10000 PGA Tour events Golf tournaments in Nevada Golf tournaments in California Golf tournaments in Hawaii Sports in Maui Recurring sporting events established in 1953 1953 establishments in Nevada