The Tribune

THE majority of the field is set for the 2017 Hero World Challenge, which is scheduled for November 30 to December 3 at Albany, Bahamas.

The invitation-only PGA TOUR event will once again feature the world's top-ranked golfers competing for a $3.5 million prize purse.

Dustin Johnson, who has held the No. 1 position in the Official World Golf Ranking since winning the Genesis Open in February, headlines a field that also includes three of 2017's major championship winners.

They are US Open winner Brooks Koepka, The Open Championship winner Jordan Spieth and PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas, who also won the PGA TOUR's 2017 FedExCup title following the conclusion of the TOUR Championship on September 24.

World No. 3 Hideki Matsuyama will aim to defend his title against a field that features 16 of the top 24 players in the world.

Tickets, pro-am and tournament information are available at HeroWorldChallenge.com .

"We're looking forward to a special week at Albany for this year's Hero World Challenge," said Mike Antolini, vice president of championships for TGR Live. "This year's field is, arguably, our strongest ever and we have an exciting week of golf and evening events planned."

The Hero World Challenge, hosted by Tiger Woods, annually invites its defending champion, the year's current major winners, and top ranked golfers from the Official World Golf Ranking to Albany, Bahamas. Two special exemptions will be announced at a later date to fill the exclusive 18-player field.

The field for the Hero World Challenge features the winners of eight major championships and 12 players who competed in last week's Presidents Cup, and it includes many players who produced the biggest highlights of the 2016-17 PGA TOUR season.

Johnson ascended to the top of the world rankings for the first time with his five-stroke victory at February's Genesis Open, the first of three straight victories including two World Golf Championship trophies.

Despite missing more than a month with a back injury, he never relinquished the No. 1 spot and returned to the tune of three more top-10 finishes, including his fourth victory of the season in the opening event of the PGA TOUR's FedExCup Playoffs.

Koepka made his third professional victory a big one by winning the 2017 U.S. Open, highlighting a stellar performance in the majors that saw him finish no lower than T-13 in the four tournaments.

Spieth collected his third major championship title at The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale in 2017, battling Kuchar over the final 18 holes and moving to within one victory of the career grand slam.

Thomas, who set a U.S. Open record with the lowest score in relation to par during the third round, was crowned a first-time major winner two months later at the PGA Championship. He is the only golfer to have won five times during the 2016-17 PGA TOUR season, totaling 12 top-10 finishes. He started 2017 by becoming the seventh player in history, and the youngest, to shoot 59 in a tournament round, and ended the season by being crowned the FedExCup champion.

Matsuyama was among the steadiest performers on tour during the 2016-17 season, winning four times and securing seven top-10 finishes. Other tournament winners from the '16-'17 season in the field include Fowler, Kuchar, Kisner and Leishman, and the field accounted for 22 total victories last season.

Thomas, Noren, Leishman, Fleetwood, Molinari, Hoffman and Kisner will prepare to tee it up in their first Hero World Challenge.

The Hero World Challenge is a four-round, 72-hole stroke play event with a $3.5 million purse, a $1 million winner's prize and Official World Golf Ranking points awarded. It will be held at the challenging par-72, 7,302-yard Albany for the third consecutive year.

Live television coverage of the Hero World Challenge will be provided by Golf Channel during all four rounds and by NBC during the third and fourth rounds. Good-any-day grounds tickets and a limited number of premium hospitality packages for the Hero World Challenge are available for purchase at HeroWorldChallenge.com .

The Tiger Woods Foundation is the event's primary charitable beneficiary, along with the Tavistock Foundation and Bahamas Youth Foundation.