Justin Thomas returns to action to defend Sentry Tournament of Champions title

Live golf returns to our television screens on Thursday night - the first round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions from Hawaii - and Justin Thomas will be in attendance attempting to defend the title he won 12 months ago.

The PGA Tour schedule has a comfortingly familiar feel to it at the start of 2021 - the circuit's chiefs eager to move on quickly from the coronavirus-ravaged 2020 - and some star names have been attracted to the Plantation Course, Kapalua, for the opening tournament of the year.

Joining Thomas will be Masters champion, Dustin Johnson, who ended last year finishing no worse than sixth in his final seven events.

There are 28 players in the Sentry field who qualified by winning a PGA Tour title last season, and an additional 17 players earned a Sentry place through appearing in the Tour Championship, a change in the standard qualification criteria for the Tournament of Champions.

Of the 45 players who qualified, only three have turned down the opportunity - Rory McIlroy, Tyrrell Hatton and Jim Herman. Live coverage starts on Sky Sports at 11pm on Thursday.

The European Tour returns with the Abu Dhabi Championship the week after next. Race to Dubai champion Lee Westwood, as well as McIlroy, Thomas and Tommy Fleetwood, have already committed to the event.

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