The PGA Tour’s Hawaiian Swing makes its second stop this week at the Sony Open, at the historic Waialae Country Club. Last week’s winner at The Sentry, Hideki Matsuyama, leads 35 players who competed at the short-field opening event in Maui and are making the quick hop to Honolulu for the first full-field tournament of the season.
The tournament has been played at Waialae since 1965. Seth Raynor designed the course in 1927. It has been won in the past by World Golf Hall of Fame members Jack Nicklaus, Lee Trevino, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Lanny Wadkins, Hubert Green, Hale Irwin, Isao Aoki and Mark O’Meara.
The first round will be Jan. 9.
Fun fact: the penultimate scene of the classic movie “From Here to Eternity,” in which Montgomery Clift’s character is killed by friendly fire, was filmed at Waialae in 1953. Clift falls head-first into a bunker after being shot, with Burt Lancaster later kneeling over his body and delivering his line, “You just couldn’t play it smart.”)
Waialae is a course where long hitters can win (Els, Singh, Justin Thomas and Cameron Smith are examples) but the narrow fairways and tricky wind also require precision, which can favor shorter, more accurate players such as Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson, David Toms and Si Woo Kim.
The tournament also will be marked by a bit of sadness. Last year’s winner Grayson Murray, committed suicide four months later. It was his only PGA Tour title.
What are the Sony Open odds?
BetMGM is going with Matsuyama to win in back-to-back weeks and capture his second Sony Open title. The native of Japan is +900 on the money line, with Corey Conners of Canada next at +1600.
Matsuyama won at Waialae in 2022 in a playoff with Russell Henley (the 2013 Sony Open champion).
Other Sony Open favorites:
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Tom Kim +1800
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Russell Henley +2000
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Byeong Hun An +2200
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Keegan Bradley +2500
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Maverick McNealy +2800
Prediction for the Sony Open winner
The temptation is to make the easy choice and go with Matsuyama, who dominated the field last week at Kapalua with a PGA Tour record of 35-under-par 257. But Waialae will negate his driving distance edge and open the field up to players of all skill sets.
Keep an eye on Henley a veteran who can put the dimples off the ball when he gets hot. It’s been 12 years since he won the Sony Open but he took Matsuyama to the brink three years ago.
Maverick McNealy is also a player who bears watching. He finally figured out how to win in the closing event of the 2024 season, the RSM Classic at the Sea Island Resort, which, like Waialae, is a seaside course open to the wind. He’s shot in the 60s in 13 of his last 16 tournament rounds, with a stroke average of 67.5.
Here are the picks:
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McNealy: He tied for eighth last week at Kapalua, his third top-10 finish in four starts. McNealy’s last six competitive rounds are 66, 68, 68, 64, 69, 68.
2. Matsuyama: Just on muscle memory alone he should be right there at the end.
3. Corey Conners: He’s 6 for 6 in making cuts at Waialae, with four finishes of 12th or higher. He might be due.
This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: PGA Tour Sony Open: What are the latest odds and prediction for the winner
