Tournament of Champions: Rory McIlroy makes first start of 2019
Thursday 3 January 2019 10:19, UK
Rory McIlroy makes his first appearance of the year at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii this week, live on Sky Sports.
The Northern Irishman is one of nine debutants in the 34-man field at the Plantation Course in Kapalua, where only PGA Tour winners from 2018 are invited to feature.
McIlroy skipped the event the previous six occasions he was eligible to feature, but decided to tee it up this time around as part of his plan to focus more on the PGA Tour over the coming season.
The 29-year-old - who won the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March - will play alongside Xander Schauffele in the opening round, with eight of the world's top 10 featuring in the star-studded event.
Sky Sports will have four hours of live coverage from each round of the first event of the calendar year, with the action getting underway from 11pm for the first two rounds, 9pm on Saturday and 11pm for Sunday's final round.
Dustin Johnson returns to defend his title after last year's emphatic eight-shot victory, his second Tournament of Champions title, while world No 1 Brooks Koepka and 2017 champion Justin Thomas also take part.
Masters champion Patrick Reed is the only other former winner in the field this week, with Open champion Francesco Molinari making his first appearance since 2011 and Paul Casey returning for the first time since 2010.
FedExCup champion Justin Rose and Tiger Woods, who claimed his first win since 2013 at the Tour Championship, both chose not to feature, while world No 9 Tony Finau is the highest-ranked player not eligible to play.
Live PGA Tour Golf
Watch the Tournament of Champions throughout the week live on Sky Sports. Live coverage begins on Thursday from 11pm on Sky Sports Golf and Sky Sports Main Event.
