Tournament of Champions, WGC stage in Mexico, major competition in Abu Dhabi. These and other prestigious tournaments will take place in the next three months.
Sentry Tournament of Champions
Date : January 7-10
Location: Kapalua, Hawaii
Stars: Dustin Johnson, Justin Thomas, John Ram, Victor Howland, Patrick Reed.
The Tournament of Champions traditionally hosts all the winners of the calendar year. In 2020, 28 golfers won the PGA rounds. For the draw in 2021, the organizers decided to admit to the tournament not only all champions, but also those golfers who made it to the Final Tournament in Atlanta. Thus, the total number of admitted golfers was 45. However, this does not mean that all of them will come to Hawaii for the first tournament in 2021. Justin Thomas and Dustin Johnson are expected to play. Both are two-time champions, and Thomas is also the current one. The Mexican Abraham Anser, as well as the Americans Tony Finau, Lanto Griffin and Scotty Scheffler have already announced their participation.
Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship
Date: January 21-24
Location: Abu Dhabi, UAE
Stars: Lee Westwood, Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tommy Fleetwood, Shane Lowry.
In the European Tour, the first tournament of 2021 will take place a little later, from 21 to 24 January. The Euro Tour kicks off the new season with a trump card: the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship is one of four Rolex Series rounds with a prize pool of $ 8,000,000. The tournament has been held since 2006, and now it is one of the largest in the entire season. A year ago, Lee Westwood won here, who later won the Race to Dubai and became the best golfer of 2020. In addition to the huge prize pool, the organizers pay additional top players just for their arrival, so we may well see top stars in Abu Dhabi: for example, in different years Dustin Johnson Ricky Fowler, Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson played here.
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Waste Management Phoenix Open
Date: February 4-7
Location: Phoenix, Arizona
Stars: John Ram, Justin Thomas, Xander Schoffele, Jordan Sleeps.
The Phoenix tournament is one of the most unusual on the golf calendar. Typically, the final round is held on the same day as the main sporting event in the United States, the Super Bowl. And the atmosphere at Waste Management Phoenix Open is usually no different from football: spectators can boo players and even come up with a variety of offensive chants. Golfers accept the rules of the game and do not take offense, because only in Phoenix can fans afford what is completely unacceptable at other tournaments. Another thing is that we do not yet know how many fans will be able to attend the stage of the PGA tour in 2021 (and whether they will be able to at all). Last year, 19 players from the top 50 of the world rankings took part in the competition. A scattering of stars is expected again in the 2021 season.
Saudi International
Date: 4-7 February
Place: King Abdullah Economic City, Saudi Arabia
Stars: Dustin Johnson, Bryson Deschambeau, Phil Mickelson, Sergio Garcia, Patrick Reed, Justin Rose, Henrik Stenson.
In parallel with the major tournament in Phoenix, another representative start will take place in Saudi Arabia. Perhaps the composition of the participants is even more impressive, because a total of nine champions of the “majors” are to play in the Economic City. Not all golfers wanted to come to Saudi Arabia for political reasons, but the sponsors apparently managed to offer too favorable financial conditions. The competition will be held for the third time: in the first two cases, Dustin Johnson and Graham McDowell won.
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WGC-Mexico Championship
Date: February 25-28
Location: Naucalpan, Mexico
Stars: Dustin Johnson, Bryson Deschambeau, John Ram, Patrick Reed, Rory McIlroy, Webb Simpson, Colleen Morikawa.
The first really big tournament of 2021 is due to take place at the end of February in Mexico. The World Golf Championships stage is included in both the European tour schedule and the PGA tour calendar, which means that all the stars of world golf should best hybrid golf clubs for mid handicappers come to Naucalpan. The competition was originally held in Spain, then for many years it was held at the Donald Trump field in Florida, and since 2017 it has been relocated to Mexico. Since 2012, only the champions of the “majors” have won here: Justin Rose, Tiger Woods, Patrick Reed, Dustin Johnson and Phil Mickelson.