The first full-field PGA event of the year tees off Thursday in Honolulu, as the Sony Open in Hawaii will be played once again at the gorgeous Waialae Country Club. The course this weekend sets up as a par 70, will be putt on Bermuda greens, and measures just over 7,000 yards.
Contrary to some of the more well-known courses on the PGA Tour, playing in the Tournament of Champions the week before the Sony Open has produced very positive results, with seven of the last eight winners at Waialae playing in the Tournament of Champions tour the previous week. The course is more on the favorable side of scoring relative to par, but the two main pieces that golfers will need to have are a strong putting performance and Strokes Gained: Approach-the-Green (Measured player performance on any shot within 30 yards of the edge of the green without measuring putting). Traditionally, the winner of this specific event has been able to excel in both those categories.
Justin Thomas is the hands-down favorite to win this weekend, as he’ll try to make it two winning weekends in a row after his impressive performance at the Tournament of Champions this past weekend. Thomas has already won the Sony Open before, dominating the field in 2017 and setting a course tournament record of 253. He currently has +135 odds to record a Top 5 Finish and +550 odds to win the tournament (next closest is a tie between Patrick Reed and Webb Simpson at +1200). Since the tournament’s establishment in 1965, there have been five multiple winners, with Jimmy Walker being the last to repeat as champion (won back to back in 2014/2015). Thomas is rolling and should be the first person you consider laying any sort of money on this weekend.
Top 10 Odds to Win Sony Open:
Justin Thomas +550
Patrick Reed +1200
Webb Simpson +1200
Hideki Matsuyama +1400
Sungjae Im +1800
Collin Morikawa +2000
Joaquin Niemann +2000
Matt Kuchar +2500 (2018 Winner)
Charles Howell III +3300
5 Tied at +4000 Odds (Abraham Ancer, Brandt Snedeker, Corey Conners, Kevin Kisner, Marc Leishman)
