With world number one Jon Rahm back in action, world number two Collin Morikawa intent on usurping him, and numbers four, five, six and a hat-tricking seeking seven also part of a strong field, here's a slightly curious thing: the world number eight looks like going off favourite for this week's Sentry Tournament of Champions, and the return of PGA Tour golf.
Justin Thomas is the man in question, and to be frank I'm not sure it's altogether wrong that he's closing in on Rahm. Thomas simply adores the Plantation Course at Kapalua, where he's twice a winner, and more than that has demonstrated that he's ready to go when he returns after Christmas. After disgracing himself last year, the otherwise likeable Thomas will be all the more keen to go out and get 2022 off to a positive start.
With Jim 'Bones' Mackay on his bag, this feels like a big year for someone who has underwhelmed in majors since winning one in 2017, yet is among the most prolific and most decorated players in the sport. There is no finer place to start than Kapalua, where his trademark iron play has seen him gain two strokes per day every day over the last three years, and he has a competitive advantage over a player in Rahm who has been absent since October.
This tournament has typically gone to someone playing deep into December and often at the Hero World Challenge. Last season, when there had been no Hero, the first three home had all been part of the Mayakoba Classic which took place at the start of the previous month, and fifth-placed Sungjae Im had stayed on later to play in Dubai. Ryan Palmer might look like an exception, but he stayed sharp in the QBE Shootout, too.
Rahm is one of a handful of players who have that against them, Im and Patrick Cantlay among the others, and it feels like a significant handicap. Sixteen of the world's top 20 players are in attendance here, Rory McIlroy being the only qualifier to turn down the invite, and over the course of 72 holes I don't think anyone, not even Rahm, will be afforded the luxury of shedding significant rust.
The winner then may come from the Hero, played on a somewhat similar golf course. Albany is more penal and less undulating but the similarities are significant enough, and the key factor is world-class competition. Rahm hasn't really had it since the Ryder Cup, truth be told.
It's tempting to side with Morikawa, seventh on both starts here and last seen blowing a five-shot lead in the Hero. That can in part be attributed to the fact he would've become world number one had he converted the first significant lead of his career, and this quick learner surely won't blink when next the opportunity arises. If Morikawa is suitably focused having got engaged over Christmas, then Rahm may be forced to pass on the baton for now.
My preference though is to give XANDER SCHAUFFELE the benefit of the doubt, his last proper PGA Tour win having come in this event three years ago thanks to a final-round 62.
Since then, the Californian has topped the 72-hole scoring in the TOUR Championship, for which he gets ranking points but no silverware, and then won gold at Tokyo 2020, for which he somehow gets into this field. It has been a frustrating run and no mistake, but for all the disappointments there's been the odd hard-luck story and it's not unreasonable to expect the cards to fall right for him in the months ahead.
Certainly, the way he played at the Ryder Cup should be hugely beneficial when next he's in the mix and there should be no lack of focus as he seeks to end the drought. That alone is worth something when players arrive here on the back of varied preparations and not always fully focused on the task at hand, and I also like the fact he's often gone well fresh including when he should have won the first post-lockdown event back in the summer of 2020.
For Schauffele, this is an opportunity he can't afford to take anything but seriously and it's at a course he loves. Like so many, Thomas among them, he built on a quiet debut to win on his second start at Kapalua, before clumsily losing a play-off to his fellow course specialist a year later, and then finished fifth last year.
Spieth won by a whopping eight strokes in 2016, another champion who benefitted from a look around to capture this title on his second visit. Not that Spieth was far away on his first, finishing second and beaten just a shot by Zach Johnson.
That fact is reminiscent of his first two performances at Augusta, first losing out to Bubba Watson and then dominating on his return, and there are similarities between the two courses: hanging lies, sparse rough, insignificant penalty off the tee and an emphasis on quality approaches.
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