Hero World Challenge - Everything You Need To Know

After a one-year gap due to the pandemic, the Hero World Challenge is back at the Albany Golf Club with a stacked and small field. The club is located in the Bahamas, and the tournament is hosted by Tiger Woods. The tourney will be held from December 2-5, and the winner of the Hero World Challenge will get more than three million dollars. Some of the past significant champions such as Henrik Stenson, Justin Rose, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, and Rory Mcllroy will join Patrick Reed and Race to Dubai winner Collin Morikawa. Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau, fresh from their show at The Match, will also be among the field competing in the Hero World Challenge. Stenson is the defending champion of the Hero World Challenge. He became the third non-American to win the Hero World Challenge when he took down Jon Rahm by a margin of only a single shot.

Several golfers had a share of the lead on the backline when Stenson's wild eagle on the fifteen round differentiated him from the others. Despite all the top players playing in the Hero World Challenge, most early attention has gone to Tiger Woods. In his first press conference after his car accident earlier this year, he spoke about his golf future and his recovery, among other things. He has also mentioned that a full-time comeback to the PGA Tour is improbable.

Tee Times of the Hero World Challenge

Thursday/First Round

11:05 a.m. -- Matthew Fitzpatrick, Tyrrell Hatton

11:16 a.m. -- Scottie Scheffler, Sam Burns

11:27 a.m. -- Webb Simpson, Daniel Berger

11:38 a.m. -- Harris English, Tony Finau

11:49 a.m. -- Patrick Reed, Abraham Ancer

12 noon -- Henrik Stenson, Viktor Hovland

12:11 p.m. -- Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele

12:22 p.m. -- Collin Morikawa, Rory McIlroy

12:33 p.m. -- Justin Thomas, Brooks Koepka

12:44 p.m. -- Bryson DeChambeau, Jordan Spieth

Past Winners of the Hero World Challenge

2020: Cancelled by the COVID-19 pandemic.

2019: Henrik Stenson at Albany, Bahamas

2018: Jon Rahm  at Albany, Bahamas

2017: Rickie Fowler at Albany, Bahamas

2016: Hideki Matsuyama at Albany, Bahamas

2015: Bubba Watson at Albany, Bahamas

2014: Jordan Spieth at Isleworth Golf & Country Club

2013: Zach Johnson at Sherwood Country Club

2012: Graeme McDowell at Sherwood Country Club

2011: Tiger Woods at Sherwood Country Club

2010: Graeme McDowell at Sherwood Country Club

2009: Jim Furyk at Sherwood Country Club

2008: Vijay Singh at Sherwood Country Club

2007: Tiger Woods at Sherwood Country Club

2006: Tiger Woods at Sherwood Country Club

2005: Luke Donald at Sherwood Country Club

2004: Tiger Woods at Sherwood Country Club

2003: Davis Love III at Sherwood Country Club

2002: Padraig Harrington at Sherwood Country Club

2001: Tiger Woods at Sherwood Country Club

2000 (December): Davis Love III at Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, Calif.

2000 (January): Tom Lehman at Grayhawk Golf Course in Scottsdale, Ariz.

A Few Things to Know About the Hero World Challenge

Morikawa has the opportunity to finish what has been a dream by becoming the top-ranked golfer all over the globe this weekend. He has to win to supersede Jon Rahm and become one of the few golfers to get to the world's number one position. But that is all he has done since he became a professional. He has done it a few times this year. This includes an Open Championship win which was one of his handful of significant victories. He also won the DP World Tour Championship in his previous start on the European Tour a couple of weeks ago. Of all the Hero World Challenge players, only Viktor Hovland has been a better ball-striker over the past year. Morikawa has a broader performance variance than nearly everyone in this field. This can lead to a few poor performances. But it is also the same thing that helps him win so rapidly against the best players in the world.

The Hero World Challenge will also mark the end of a hectic year for Bryson. You will be amazed to see how many significant moments in the sport the player has been involved in this year. This is despite only winning a single time at the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this year. Except for the World Long Drive Championship and the nine-hole match versus Brooks Koepka the day after Thanksgiving, fans have not seen him in any official capacity since the Ryder Cup. But, we have a lot of evidence from the previous few years that when the player shows up, stuff just happens. We are not sure he has owned this year like he had imagined he would. But it will be exciting to see the player start gearing up a bit for next year if he goes out and wins the Hero World Challenge by a margin of more than four strokes.

In many ways, the Hero World Challenge is as much about the first public appearance of Tiger Woods since his car accident earlier this year as the golf itself. It will undoubtedly get more interest and intrigue early in the Hero World Challenge than whoever is in the final mix at the end of the tournament. This has become a bit of a tradition. It is not the first time that people have seen Tiger Woods address the media in the middle of recovery from a type of nearly debilitating injury. But now, a lot of time has passed since the fans heard him speak in the public arena. The previous occasion was during the final round of the Genesis Invitational on the CBS broadcast with Jim Nantz. His comments during the Hero World Challenge press conference will be in focus for the remainder of the week.

Grading the field of the Hero World Challenge

Apart from Sam Burns, every player in this field has been on either a Presidents Cup team or a Ryder Cup team. More than thirteen of the players played at Whistling Straits only a couple of months ago. Only Henrik Stenson has a ranking outside the top fifty on the planet. Only Stenson, Justin Rose, and Patrick Reed are outside the top thirty. More than five of the top golfers globally and eighteen major championships combined will be playing on the field in the Hero World Challenge. We give the area the top grade of A. 

2021 Hero World Challenge picks

We predict that Justin Thomas can be the winner of the Hero World Challenge. It would be a great end to the year if Thomas got the trophy from Tiger Woods on Sunday in the last major tournament of the year. Tiger Woods had recently said that Thomas was like a little brother to him. Thomas has played good golf over the past few months. For the player, it will come down to whether he can play according to his abilities. Till this point this year, he has not been a great putter. In the previous tournament that he played in, the CJ Cup at Summit, Thomas hit the ball well enough to defeat everyone. Still, he put it like he had the wrong hand. If he can sort out his putt, he is the top contender to win the Hero World Challenge.

Viktor Hovland has been a prolific ball-striker in the past quarter of this year. Only DeChambeau has been a better ball-striker than him. Hovland looks like a top player on the planet in a blind statistical test. But he has odds that are more like that of the top twenty-five players. Many fans are predicting him to win. But the course on the Hero World Challenge has small greens and many positions. This will make it difficult for him to play his short game because getting up and down the field will be very difficult. 

Conclusion

The Hero World Challenge is the final event for this year for nearly every player in this field. This will be the last opportunity for the fans to see the world's best golf players in action until the Tournament of Champions takes place in a month. Morikawa has a great chance to close the year on a strong note as the top golfer in the world. There is a solid prize on the line for this limited field.

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