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PGA Tour Brunch | SONY Open Preview

First Full-Field PGA Tour event of 2023 Starts Thursday in Honolulu

@TerryLyons
Jan 11
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PGA Tour Brunch | SONY Open Preview
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By TERRY LYONS

HONOLULU - It’s showtime at the Waialae Country Club as the PGA Tour plays its first full-field event of 2023. Last week, Jon Rahm came “closing like a freight train” as Collin Morakawa gave up an eight-shot lead after Rahm bogeyed No. 1. Rahm took-in a cool $2.7m for his efforts on the Island of Maui.

This week, we’ll remember that defending champion Hideki Matsuyama defeated Russell Henley in a playoff to win last season’s 2022 Sony Open in Hawaii, earning his eighth victory of his Tour career and tying K.J. Choi for most Tour wins by an Asian player (8). With a total of 23-under (257), Matsuyama became the 11th player in PGA Tour history with a 72-hole score of (257) or better. Not bad.

With the two courses (Kapalua Plantation and Waialae CC in Honolulu) being quite different, only six players have won both Hawaii events during their careers: Jim Furyk (1996 Sony, 2001 Sentry), Ernie Els (2003 Sentry, 2003 and 2004 Sony), Vijay Singh (2005 Sony, 2007 Sentry), Zach Johnson (2009 Sony, 2014 Sentry), Justin Thomas (2017 Sentry, 2017 and 2020 Sony) and Cameron Smith (2020 Sony, 2022 Sentry).

Coming off Monday’s CFP Playoffs and the Georgia Dawgs’ slaughter of those TCU Frogs, eight of 10 full-time Tour members from the University of Georgia are in the field this week: Harris English, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Chris Kirk, Keith Mitchell, Greyson Sigg, Davis Thompson and Brendon Todd. Those eight have combined to make 57 starts in the event and have recorded eight total top-fives, highlighted by Henley's victory in 2013 and second-place finishes by Kirk (2021) and Henley (2022) in the last two years. Kirk (3), Henley (2) and English (2) all have multiple top-fives at the event.

Texas Christian University alumnus Tom Hoge slouches in shame but is coming off a T3 at last week's Sentry Tournament of Champions. Hoge, who held the 54-hole lead at the 2018 Sony Open in Hawaii and missed the playoff by one stroke, is making his sixth consecutive start and eighth overall at the event.

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SONY Open in Hawaii | Tournament Facts

COURSE: Waialae CC in Honolulu

YARDS/PAR: 7,044 yards/Par 70

ARCHITECT: Seth Raynor

PRIZE Money - Purse: $7,900,000/$1,422,000

DEFENDING CHAMPION: Hideki Matsuyama

PAST RESULTS: (link)

PAST CHAMPIONS: (link)

FEDEx CUP Points to Winner: 500

SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @SonyOpenHawaii


TV COVERAGE: The first two rounds (Jan 12 and 13) of the SONY Open are scheduled for TV coverage from 7:00pm to 10:30pm (ET) on Golf Channel. On Saturday and Sunday, coverage is set for 6:00pm to 8:00pm (ET) on Golf Channel preceded by 4:00 to 6:00pm (ET) on NBC

PGA TOUR LIVE STREAMING: ESPN+ will be streaming live coverage from 12:00 noon to 10:30pm (ET) on Thursday and Friday. Weekend streaming on ESPN+ from 12:45pm to 8:00pm (ET)

PGA TOUR RADIO COVERAGE: SiriusXM Radio will have live coverage of the SONY beginning at 5:00pm to 10:30pm (ET) on Thursday and Friday. On Saturday and Sunday, coverage will air 3:00pm to 8:00pm (ET) (or completion of event). PGA Tour Radio is available on Sirius 208/XM 92 or online via PGATourCom

How to Watch: In case of changes, visit: (PGATourCom)


SONY Open | The Basics

The Tee Times at the SONY Open start Thursday and run from 12:10pm (ET) to 6:40pm (ET).

Weather: Thursday and Friday will be near duplicates with mostly sunny/sunny skies and 72-73-degrees with winds expected at 7-11mph. There’s a 0% chance of rain for the first three days of the tournament. The weekend forecast (Saturday/Sunday) should be fine, with only a 20% chance of rain Sunday but slightly windier at 15 mph.

Tournament Web Site: (link)

FedEx Cup Info: (link)

PGA Tour Brunch will post at Noon (ET) Thursday


SONY Open Field and Tee Times:

The Field: (link)

Tee Times: (link)


SONY Open | Tournament Odds

Source: CBS Sports

Tom Kim +1100

Sungjae Im +1400

Hideki Matsuyama +1500

Jordan Spieth +1500

Russell Henley +2100

Tom Hoge +2200

Corey Conners +2200

Brian Harman +2600

Adam Scott +3100

Taylor Montgomery +3100

Billy Horschel +3200

Cameron Davis +3300

Kyoung-Hoon Lee +3400

Keegan Bradley +3400

Keith Mitchell +3700

Si Woo Kim +3700

Maverick Mcnealy +3700

J.J. Spaun +4000

Alex Smalley +4500

Christiaan Bezuidenhout +4500

MacKenzie Hughes +5000

Emiliano Grillo +5000

Harris English +5000

J.T. Poston +5000

Denny McCarthy +5000

Matt Kuchar +5000

Webb Simpson +5000

Gary Woodland +5000

Kurt Kitayama +5500

Adam Svensson +5500

Will Gordon +5500

Andrew Putnam +5500

Chris Kirk +6000

Brendan Steele +6500

Hayden Buckley +6500

Brendon Todd +7500

Nick Hardy +8000

Aaron Rai +8500

Davis Thompson +9000

Chun-an Yu +9000

Russell Knox +9500

Greyson Sigg +9500

Patton Kizzire +9500

Ryan Palmer +10000

Robby Shelton +10000

Stephan Jaeger +10000

Justin Suh +11000

Ryan Armour +11000

Troy Merritt +11000

Brandon Wu +11000

Ben Griffin +11000

David Lipsky +12000

Chez Reavie +12000

David Lingmerth +13000

Kevin Streelman +13000

Sam Ryder +13000

Kazuki Higa +14000

Michael Thompson +14000

Lucas Glover +14000

James Hahn +14000

Mark Hubbard +14000

Stewart Cink +14000

Taiga Semikawa +14000

Seonghyeon Kim +14000

Joseph Bramlett +15000

Carl Yuan +15000

Nick Taylor +16000

Brian Stuard +16000

Harry Higgs +16000

Adam Long +16000

Keita Nakajima +16000

Tyson Alexander +16000

MJ Daffue +16000

John Huh +16000

Adam Schenk +17000

Scott Piercy +17000

Cole Hammer +17000

Zac Blair +19000

Ben Taylor +19000

Austin Eckroat +21000

Danny Lee +21000

Peter Malnati +21000

Byeong Hun An +21000

Yuto Katsuragawa +21000

TL’s Wedge for an Edge:  As noted last week, when I had Jon Rahm in a reserve role, ready to be activated on Sunday for the big come-from-behind win, the Hawaiian Islands bring challenges like no other. Keep in mind, those who excel at the Sentry and Kapalua are not guaranteed success at Waialae CC in Honolulu. Let’s see what this week brings: The picks to start: Cameron Davis, Tom Kim, Tom Home and Keegan Bradley. Reserves: Taylor Montgomery and Jungjai Im. For the Tour One and Done? Cameron Davis.


What They’re Saying

Spieth, Tom Kim, Matsuyama Head SONY Open in Hawaii field (Yahoo/USA Today)

Power Rankings for the SONY (PGATourCom)

Five Things to Know about Waialae (PGATourCom)


Sports Gambling and Daily Fantasy

Best Bets for the SONY Open - (Action Net)

Expert Picks for the SONY - (PGATourCom)

Horses for the Course at Waialae- (PGATourCom)


On This Day in Golf History

January 11, 1976 - Johnnie Miller won the Tucson Open in Arizona for the third consecutive year, shooting a final round (68) to defeat runner-up Howard Twitty.


Parting Putt

Twitter avatar for @PGATOUR
PGA TOUR @PGATOUR
Who will come out on top @SonyOpenHawaii? Experts weigh in ⬇️
1:00 AM ∙ Jan 11, 2023
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