Should Rory McIlroy’s occasionally agonising wait for Masters glory end in April much of the focus will be on his long journey from the outskirts of Belfast to Augusta triumph.
In the here and now the 29-year-old has made the hardly inconsequential jaunt to Hawaii to begin a season he hopes will be notable for the donning of a Green Jacket. Few would grudge McIlroy that moment.
The idyllic backdrop means the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua could be regarded as a soft start. A glance at the field suggests otherwise: Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Reed, Jon Rahm, Jason Day, Francesco Molinari and Justin Thomas join McIlroy at the Plantation Course from Thursday.
Speculation Tiger Woods would join the party proved unfounded, with Woods opting to extend his off-season. Justin Rose is another notable absentee.
McIlroy is in Hawaii as part of his increased focus on US tournaments and his absence will inevitably be keenly felt as the European Tour’s annual desert swing begins later this month. Looking at key details for the PGA Tour season reveals the chasm that now exists between operations on either side of the Atlantic.
The PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup bonus pool will double this year to $70m (£61m). A new rewards system applicable before the FedEx play-offs get underway will distribute another $10m. This weekend alone the winner will collect $1.3m.
In proving such riches do not come for free, the PGA Tour is poised to follow what has become a European custom by seeking live interviews with players during rounds. With participation not compulsory the response, inevitably, will be mixed.
The same applies to changes to the rules, as took effect for the amateur and professional game from 1 January. Officials from the United States Golf Association held a meeting with players in Hawaii in a bid to smooth the process but a degree of uncertainty remains.
“I’ve tried to spend a lot of time looking over them,” said Thomas, the world No 4. “Especially a handful are quite a bit different and I think you’ll see it across the field, especially these first couple of months, everybody’s going to be calling a rules official in as much possible. So, unfortunately, play is probably not going to be too fast.” Whisper it but this was not really the desired impact.
Among matters to be amended are time permitted to search for a ball – now three minutes instead of five – the taking of drops from knee rather than shoulder height and permission to putt with flag still in a hole.
“If I have an eight footer to win a tournament, I mean no offence, I can’t really take myself seriously if I kept the pin in,” Thomas said. “It just would be such a weird picture and like on TV me celebrating, the pin is in and my ball’s like up against it. If I have a putt I’m trying to make, that thing’s coming out.”
In proving he is never far from the news, Woods has been a topic of discussion as the prospect of two more stagings of “The Match” has been raised. Woods faced Phil Mickelson for a $9m prize in Las Vegas in November, with reports claiming similar matches this year and next – possibly featuring more players.
Golf Digest suggested close to a million viewers paid the $19.95 fee for the event hosted by Turner Sports, a matter complicated by the need for refunds because the stream stopped working mid-match.
“I think the viewership was pretty large,” said Mark Steinberg, Woods’s manager. “Take away the glitch and it was pretty big. That’s certainly one of the measures of success. You have to look at what the internet was doing and seemed like people were quite interested.
“We – and that’s a very big we when I say the Woods camp, the Mickelson camp, the Turner camp – have a lot to talk about. We don’t have any specifics on what it might look like, whether it’s Tiger-Phil, two others, four others.”
