Every week, DraftKings Sportsbook offers a wide variety of ways to get in on the action as the PGA TOUR tees it up. In addition to picking the winner, the finishing position or individual scores for each player, there is also a variety of Tournament Trios offered in the matchup section of the tournament page. These “tournament 3-balls” are an opportunity for you to select a winner from a threesome of players head-to-head. Since there are three players in the mix, the odds are usually plus odds for each option and can be a fun way to play head-to-head matchups. Check out my favorite 3-ball picks for the week analyzed below.
In this week’s tournament, the PGA TOUR begins the year at The Sentry with a limited-field, Signature event at the iconic Plantation Course at Kapalua Resort. This course typically yields low scores in Maui and allows PGA TOUR pros to get off to a strong start to the season.
For more info on the course, format and field, check out Geoff Ulrich’s Cheat Sheet.
There are six 3-balls available for this week’s tournament, and these are my three favorite options:
Sungjae Im (+175)
Im is in a trio with Ludvig Aberg (+160) and Patrick Cantlay (+180) for the first event of the season. All three are very strong players with high ceilings when they’re at their best, but of the three Im has the strongest course history and recent form.
Im finished T5 last year at Kapalua and has never finished worse than T13 while posting three top 10s. He set a PGA TOUR record for most birdies in a tournament at the event last year but didn’t get the win since he had a few bad holes.
Cantlay also has a pair of top fives in his previous trips to this event but hasn’t finished in the top 10 the last two years. Aberg has only played this event one time in his career, finishing T47 last year.
While Cantlay hasn’t played an official PGA TOUR event since the TOUR Championship, Im teed it up at the ZOZO Championship and finished T13. After a slow start to the season, Im caught fire in the second half of the year after getting a win on the Korean Tour at the Woori Financial Group Championship. In the last six months, Im has finished T13 or better in nine of his last 11 PGA TOUR events.
Both Im and Cantlay played the unofficial PGA TOUR event at the Hero World Challenge with Im finishing T9 and Cantlay 11th. Aberg was sidelined for most of the Fall due to knee surgery, but he did defend his title at The RSM Classic, where he finished 16th.
Based on his course history and better recent results, Im looks like a good value from this strong 3-ball of superstars.
Sahith Theegala (+175)
Theegala looked great in Maui last year, and he will look to build on his strong finish to 2024 with a big week in Kapalua to kick off 2025. He’s matched up with Russell Henley (+180) and Adam Scott (+165).
Theegala finished runner-up to Chris Kirk in last year’s version of The Sentry. He finished with a scalding -10 in the final round but fell just one shot short of forcing a playoff. Scott didn’t play last year while Henley finished T52 in the field of 59.
Theegala posted nine top 10s last season and made 22 of 26 cuts. His one career win came back in the 2023 Fortinet Championship, but he’ll look to add to that list with a better finish in 2025. He has played well in the last few months, finishing third at the TOUR Championship and in the top 10 at the Procore Championship and the Hero World Challenge.
Henley finished in the top five of the FedExCup Standings but has not played an official PGA TOUR event since the TOUR Championship. He has played Kapalua five times in his career but only finished in the top 15 one time–all the way back in 2015.
Scott put up a third-place finish at the DP World Tour Championship and finished runner-up at the BMW Championship last August. He has the potential to challenge Theegala, and it makes sense that he’s a slight favorite, but I think Theegala is a better play this week.
Taylor Pendrith (+180)
Pendrith is getting lots of DFS attention but he is still the longest odds in this 3-ball with Si Woo Kim (+175) and Wyndham Clark (+165).
Pendrith finished in the top 10 in his one FedExCup Fall event with an eighth-place finish at he Shriners Children’s Open. He’ll be making his first start at Kapalua after breaking through for his first PGA TOUR career win at THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson in early May last year. He was a little inconsistent after getting his win but found a nice groove with top 25s in each of his last six tournaments.
His game should translate to this event well since he excels in low-scoring conditions where he can rely on his big driver. He’s also one of the best putters on the PGA TOUR, which should serve him well on the huge greens at Kapalua.
Pendrith is matched up with Si Woo Kim, who had a strong finish to 2024 but had to withdraw from his last start at The RSM Classic. He’s only finished in the top 25 twice in his last nine PGA TOUR starts.
The third member of this trio is Wyndham Clark, who was boom-or-bust throughout 2024. He missed the cut at the Procore Championship and finished T17 at the 20-man Hero World Challenge. He finished T29 last year in his debut at this track, and it doesn’t seem to play to his strengths as a second-shot specialist that typically excels on difficult tracks relative to par.
Even though he has the longest odds, I like Pendrith to emerge with the win in this 3-ball based on course fit and his strong results to finish 2024.
Find all this week’s Tournament Trios on DraftKings Sportsbook in the matchup section of the tournament page.
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I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and user (my username is z.thompson) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.
