Can Xander Schauffele Bounce Back from COVID-19?
Sentry Tournament of Champions
Field Size: 42
Start Date: January 7th, 2021
Defending Champion: Justin Thomas
Course Information
Course: Plantation Course at Kapalua
Par: 73
Yardage: 7,596
Greens: Bermuda
Past Winners
2020: Justin Thomas
2019: Xander Schauffele
2018: Dustin Johnson
2017: Justin Thomas
2016: Jordan Spieth
Xander Schauffele — Sentry Tournament of Champions
Odds courtesy of Fanduel Sportsbook. Sign up for FanDuel Sportsbook today and get your first bet risk free for up to $1,000!
Outright Odds: +1100
Top 20 Odds: -410
OWGR: 6
News and Notes
On Sunday, Todd Lewis from the Golf Channel mentioned that Xander Schauffele tested positive for COVID-19 on December 18th. That was just a little over two weeks ago — but Xander was ultimately able to be cleared for this week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions.
Xander stated he’s mostly been battling fatigue while dealing with COVID-19. His lack of preparation and practice time and fatigue symptoms for this tournament should raise some red flags. We’ve seen guys start slow when they return from COVID — and we’ve seen guys who don’t seem to be bothered — but walking 72 holes when you’ve been fatigued doesn’t sound like an ideal scenario.
He’ll enter this tournament in decent form — ranking inside the top 12 in True Strokes Gained in both Strokes Gained: Approach and Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee over his last 20 rounds, per DataGolf. And he’s projecting as the fourth-best value on FanDuel, per DailyRoto’s PGA projections, which are also powered by Data Golf.
That said, it’s difficult to project how Xander will feel on the course as he recovers from COVID, however, that may depress his ownership in DFS contests. FanDuel Sportsbook doesn’t seem too concerned as he’s listed at +1100 to win outright.
