Fact or Fiction: The Sentry Won't Miss Jon Rahm This Week

In this new weekly feature, SI writers and editors debate statements around current issues in the game. Up first: the Sentry at Kapalua.

Welcome to a new PGA Tour season and a new weekly staple here at SI Golf: Fact or Fiction.

With a hat tip to our friends on the NFL side of the shop, we’ll post a series of topical statements for writers and editors to declare as “Fact” or “Fiction” (we’ll permit some wiggle room) along with a brief explanation.

Do you agree or disagree? Let us know on the SI Golf X (formerly Twitter) account or Instagram.   

The PGA Tour starts the calendar year in a familiar place but with an unusually large field :: Kyle Terada/USA TODAY Sports

The Sentry has a field of 59 players: 35 tournament winners from 2023 and 24 from last year’s FedEx Cup top 50. This event is better with those 24 additional players.

FACT. The Tour is already under scrutiny for having so many limited-field events. Adding those to what was before called the Tournament of Champions makes for a stronger field, especially given the amount of money ($20 million) being offered. It’s more incentive to make sure you are in the top 50 by the FedEx Cup playoffs. —Bob Harig

FICTION. Change is good until it isn’t. If you want a free trip to Maui and you play on the PGA Tour, then win the year before. Allowing nonwinners into what used to be called the Tournament of Champions and is now the Sentry, named after a Wisconsin- headquartered insurance company, is just lame. —Alex Miceli

FACT. More of the top players in this case means more stories to track, a more dynamic leaderboard and just an overall less sleepy vibe. —Jeff Ritter

FICTION. The Tournament of Champions had already been dulled in recent years by expanding to include prior-year Tour Championship qualifiers, but that was a minor tweak adding only a nonwinner or two. But adding two dozen nonwinners (seven of whom have never won on Tour at all) completely strips the veneer off one of the Tour’s few unique events. —John Schwarb

NEUTRAL. I wouldn't necessarily say the event is better ... but just different. There was something special about watching the best players in the world navigate Kapalua, while simultaneously reflecting on which events facilitated their qualification for the tournament in the first place. I will say that the addition of the FedEx Cup top 50 ensures that fan favorites like Jordan Spieth and Tommy Fleetwood are in the field, even if they didn’t necessarily snag a win in the past year. —Gabby Herzig

This week marks the return to a calendar-year PGA Tour schedule, which is preferable to the old wraparound format.

FACT. The wraparound schedule was a way to appease the PGA Tour membership at large. But by doing so, those who had a solid year were penalized by having to consider playing in the fall so as to not get so far behind. This takes care of that issue while also giving the schedule a clear start and stop date. Players can now take the fall off if they wish. And for those who need to lock up status, the fall becomes their lifeline. —B.H.

FACT. The PGA Tour has a habit of making grandiose decisions, telling us how good something is for the game and then years later reversing themselves—like when we were sold a bill of goods on the wraparound season. Thankfully somebody in Ponte Vedra got the message that the idea was not a very good one, and we are back to something that makes sense. —A.M.

FACT. Fans can understand a calendar that begins Jan. 1 and ends Dec. 31, because, well, that’s how a calendar works. The old wraparound format will not be missed. —J.R.

FACT. This should be a massive relief for players and fans alike. For players, taking time off in the fall will no longer result in a points setback in advance of the bulk of the PGA Tour season. For fans, the start of the new year will mark something to look forward to: the best players competing together for the first time since the Tour Championship. —G.H.

Are you less interested in the PGA Tour season opener without Rahm (pictured last year)? :: Harry How/Getty Images

The Sentry is less compelling without its defending champion as Jon Rahm left for LIV Golf.

FACT. Missing the defending champion is never good. It’s worse when he’s the reigning winner of a major championship, in this case the Masters. Rahm’s absence will be noted several times throughout this PGA Tour season. Side note: It’s an example of why the Tour needs to get a deal done with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund and the DP World Tour. —B.H.

FACT. Jon Rahm is willing to report as eligible, but the zebra-clad Tour officials changed the rules and one of the most charismatic players in professional golf will be instead on the sidelines. Who benefits from Rahm staying at home in Arizona? The sponsors? The fans? How about no one. What a ridiculous decision. —A.M.

FACT. But he would be only one of 59 top players, so it’s 1/59th diminished or 1.7%. I resolve to make this the only math I use in Fact or Fiction this year. —J.R.

NEUTRAL. The defending champ is just trivia once play begins, but an underlying awkwardness remains when it’s a LIV guy. Speaking of trivia, can you guess the most recent Sentry winner in this field? It’s Harris English, the 2021 champ. Rahm isn’t here, nor is ’22 winner Cam Smith. —J.S.

FACT. Rahm’s departure to LIV Golf was a massive blow to the PGA Tour, and his absence will be felt this week. Rory McIlroy has opted not to play, meaning that only one of the top three players in the world (Scottie Scheffler) will be teeing it up in what is supposed to be a marquee winter event for the Tour. It will be interesting to see how the broadcast handles the gaping hole in the narrative this week. —G.H.