Sony Open of Hawaii: PGA Tour Golf Odds and Predictions
Sony Open in Hawaii History
Most players who competed in last week’s winners-only Sentry Tournament of Champions will tee it up this week at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu. Since the Tournament of Champions relocated to Hawaii in 1999, 15 of 21 Sony Open winners have prevailed after playing Kapalua the previous week.
This tournament has been around since 1965 and has been won almost exclusively by Americans. Not a single European has won the Sony Open, but most of the top Euro players remain overseas until the Tour heads to California. The only other countries to have a winner here are Australia, Japan, South Africa, Fiji, South Korea and Argentina – the last non-American winner was Argentine Fabian Gomez in 2016. Gomez hasn’t won since.
In addition, no player has won the Sony Open more than twice, yet four players have repeated: Hubert Green (1978-79), Corey Pavin (1986-87), Ernie Els (2003-04) and Jimmy Walker (2014-15). The defending champion is Matt Kuchar, who finished at 22-under 258 and four shots ahead of Andrew Putnam. Kuchar didn’t have a round worse than 66. He’s +2300 to win again at Sports Interaction.
Waialae Country Club was built in 1927 and is a par 70 playing to around 7,040 yards. Waialae’s 55th consecutive year as a PGA Tour host is exceeded by only three other venues.
Sony Open Betting Favourites
Justin Thomas is the +500 favourite and comes off a victory Sunday at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, his 11th career win. He beat Patrick Reed and Xander Schauffele in a playoff. Thomas won this tournament in 2017 with an event-record and PGA Tour 72-hole record score of 253, dusting the field by seven shots. He had a first-round 59 and never shot worse than 65. Thomas hasn’t been Top 10 in the Sony Open since.
Webb Simpson, Collin Morikawa and Reed are each +1200. Reed was 13th here last year. It’s Morikawa’s tournament debut. He was seventh last week. Simpson has a best result of fourth at the Sony Open.
One big name who originally planned to play but withdrew over the weekend due to illness was Jordan Spieth.
Canadian Golfer Odds
No Canadian has won this event. In 1988, Richard Zokol finished runner-up by a shot to Lanny Wadkins.
Corey Conners finished 19th last week in his debut at the Tournament of Champions and was T3 here last year (after Monday qualifying) thanks to shooting 64-64 on the weekend. Roger Sloan (+23000) was 19th a year ago, Mackenzie Hughes (+25600) MDF, and David Hearn (+15500) and Nick Taylor (+12800) each missed the cut.
Sony Open in Hawaii Predictions
Take Thomas and Kuchar for Top 10s, but the winner at +4100 is Charles Howell III. He has seven Top 10s at the Sony Open since 2009 but yet to win it.