January 4, 2016
The PGA Tour resumes its 2015-16 season on Thursday in Hawaii with the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. The only way to qualify for the '16 opener is to win a PGA Tour-sanctioned event since the last time the event was played in January 2015.
Defending champion Patrick Reed is back at Kapalua Resort's Plantation Course -- the only par-73 course on the PGA Tour -- and he headlines a 32-player field that also includes Jordan Spieth, Jason Day and Zach Johnson, nailing down all four major winners from 2015.
However, a number of familiar faces didn't make the trip.
Rory McIlroy, Justin Rose, Jim Furyk and Shane Lowry are the four winners eligible to play but chose to take the coming week off.
McIlroy won the WGC-Cadillac Match Play and Wells Fargo Championship, while Rose won in New Orleans, Furyk took the RBC Heritage and the Irishman Lowry won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational for the biggest win of his career to date.
