It was a great way to start our 2023 campaign, after Jon Rahm overturned a nine shot deficit over Collin Morikawa at the Tournament of Champions, to pick up his 8th PGA title and third win in five tournaments and provide us with a 13/2 winner. We stay in Hawaii for the Sony Open and have provided you with our preview and best bets for the Tournament. 

Sony Open in Hawaii Betting Tips

• 2u Tom Hoge – each way (1/5 8 places) – 22/1
• 2u Keegan Bradley – each way (1/5 8 places) – 28/1
• 1u Ryan Palmer – each way (1/5 8 places) – 100/1
• 1u Russell Knox – each way (1/5 8 places) – 125/1

History

The Sony Open dates back to it’s original incarnation as the Hawaiian Open back in 1965 and celebrates its 25th anniversary with it’s current title sponsor.

The event has been sponsored by electronics company Sony since 1999 and is the first full-field tournament of the calendar year.

The Tournament has only been won multiple times on five occasions, by Jimmy Walker, Ernie Els, Lanny Wadkins, Corey Pavin and Hubert Green.

2022 champion Hideki Matsuyama, returns to Honolulu to try and defend his title. The Japanese player shot -23 last year and beat Russell Henley in a playoff.

Previous winners teeing up this week include Matsuyama, Matt Kuchar (45/1), Patton Kizzire (125/1), Walker (750/1), Henley (22/1), Ryan Palmer (100/1), Zach Johnson (250/1) and KJ Choi (1000/1)

The total prize fund on offer this week is $7.9m, with a winners purse of $1.42m and 500 FedEx Cup points.

The Course

The Sony Open has been played at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu every year since its inception and usually results in a high scoring tournament, averaging just over -20 in the last eight runnings.

Waialae is a Par 70, 7,044 yard layout and was designed by Seth Raynor back in the late 1920’s. Since then the course has had several renovations, including one from course consultant Tom Doak back in 2017.

The narrow lay out features plenty of sand and well manicured Bermuda grass fairways and greens. The signature hole is the 186 yard par 3 8th hole, which is lined head to toe by the Pacific Ocean.

The Field

19 of the 39 players who teed it up at Kapalua, stay in Hawaii for the Sony Open.

The two favourites are new best buddies Jordan Spieth (12/1) and Tom Kim (14/1) who are #14 and #15 in the world respectively.

Next up we have one of last weeks picks, Sungjae Im (14/1) and defending champ Matsuyama (18/1).

Other notable entrants including Presidents Cup participants Adam Scott, Billy Horschel, Corey Conners, K.H. Lee and Christiaan Bezuidenhout.

17 of the last 24 winners of the Sony Open played The Sentry the week prior, showing the two courses have a decent amount of correlation.

2u Tom Hoge – each way (1/5 8 places) – 22/1

As mentioned before, previous winners have generally played at Kapalua and done well the week prior to the Sony Open.

That certainly applies to Tom Hoge, who finished T3rd in Maui, after a stunning -9 round four.

The 33-year-old will be travelling back to the mainland for the NCAA National Championships between his alma-mater TCU and Georgia this week but will hope to come back to Honolulu refreshed and ready to win again.

Hoge had a superb start to the season, with his first four events finishing no worse than T13th.

This carried on his form from a great 2022 season, where he picked up his first PGA Tour win at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am as well as five other Top 10’s.

The North Carolina native has a mixed record at Waialae, with a T12th and 3rd in recent years, alongside a bunch of missed cuts. He is bang in form this year though.

2u Keegan Bradley – each way (1/5 8 places) – 28/1

Keegan Bradley is another who comes straight from Kapalua and whilst he had an average week, finishing 34th, he played some good stuff and just struggled with the putter.

The 36-year-old is having a career renaissance of late and picked up his first win for four years at the Zozo Championship back in October.

Bradley now has five PGA Tour wins and sits in 5th spot in the FedExCup rankings for the season.

Another with a mixed record here, with results of T12th, MC, T12th, T29th, MC, MC in the last six outings to Honolulu.

1u Ryan Palmer – each way (1/5 8 places) – 100/1

Next up, I’ve gone for two golfers with a decent record here.

First we have America Ryan Palmer who is chasing his 5th PGA Tour victory, having last won back at the Zurich Classic in 2019.

The 46-year-old had a reasonable 2022 with six top 25’s and a T5th at the Byron Nelson.

His start to 2023 hasn’t been great with 3/4 missed cuts but he returns to a course he loves at Waialae.

Since his win back in 2010, Palmer has missed the cut just twice and has five Top 20’s and two top 10’s.

1u Russell Knox – each way (1/5 8 places) – 125/1

Another with a good record in Honolulu is Scot Russell Knox. The 37-year-old has had a solid if unspectacular start to the 2023 season, with just one missed cut in eight events and three Top 25’s.

Knox last won in 2016 at the Travelers Championship but went close here last year with a T7th.

In his last six attempts here his record reads: T7th, MC, T32nd, T43rd, T10th, T11th so usually fares well in Hawaii.

At 125/1 he’s surely worth a shot for grabbing one of the eight place spots on offer.

2023 PGA Tour stats: 

Staked: 12.5u

Returns: 33.75u

P/L: +21.25u

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