Sarah Fobes
January 10, 2022

2022 PGA Tour: Sony Open Golf Betting Odds

Many but not all the players from last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui will play again this week (24 of them) at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, a par 70 at 7,044 yards that was founded 95 years ago. That’s nearly 6,000 yards shorter than last week’s course at Kapalua, and Waialae is much flatter and narrower. The only two par 5s conclude each nine, although the front and back nines are switched from usual play for the PGA Tour event. The tournament dates to 1965.

Mostly Americans have won here and Kevin Na is the defending champion as he finished at 21-under 259, one stroke ahead of Chris Kirk and Joaquin Niemann. Na, whose worst round was a 67, rallied from three shots behind with six holes to play and birdied the final hole. He nearly withdrew on Wednesday after injuring himself warming up for the pro-am. It was Na’s fifth career PGA Tour victory and he hasn’t won since.

The last repeat winner of the Sony Open was Jimmy Walker in 2015. Three other players also have gone back-to-back. One of the PGA Tour’s rare 59s was shot here in 2017 by Justin Thomas, who also set 36-hole (123), 54-hole (188) and 72-hole (253) tournament records to lap the field by seven shots. Yet he’s not playing this week. Neither is world No. 1 Jon Rahm.

Since the Tournament of Champions moved back to Hawaii in 1999, 16 of the 23 Sony Open winners have also played Kapalua the week before.

Sony Open Golf Betting Odds

Australia’s Cameron Smith won this tournament in 2020 in a playoff over Brendan Steele and he’s the +1000 favourite after also winning the Tournament of Champions on Sunday in record fashion. Smith made a 3-foot birdie putt on his 72^nd hole to shoot a final-round 65 and edge No. 1 Jon Rahm by a shot. Smith finished overall at a PGA Tour-record 34 under, the fourth time in Tour history a player was at least 30 under. The previous record was 31 under by Ernie Els at the 2003 Tournament of Champions. There’s was no wind over the weekend, so the course was defenceless. Smith finished T62 at this event last year trying to repeat.

Big-hitting Bryson DeChambeau was T25 on Sunday and +1200 this week. He last played here in 2019 and was T10. Webb Simpson is +1600 with Sungjae Im and Hideki Matsuyama each +2000. Simpson didn’t play last week and has been no worse than T4 in his past three trips here, although he hasn’t won yet. Im was my pick to win last week and he was T8 at 24 under. His best finish at Waialae is T16. Matsuyama finished T13 on Sunday and was T19 at this event last year. Kevin Na is +2800 to repeat. He was T13 at the Tournament of Champions.

No Canadian has won the Sony Open. Nick Taylor finished T11 last year, while Mackenzie Hughes was T19 and Mike Weir T47, while David Hearn, Roger Sloan and Michael Gligic missed the cut. Corey Conners has the shortest odds this week at +2800. He has a best of T3 at this event in 2019. Taylor Pendrith is +12000, Sloan +20000, Adam Svensson +30000 and Michael Gligic +40000.