The Sony Open in Hawaii
DFS PGA Tour Golf Picks
The Sony Open in Hawaii
Preview for the Sony Open in Hawaii: The PGA Tour remains in Hawaii for another week of golf with the Sony Open set to be played. This event dates back to 1965 when it was named the Hawaiian Open and Gay Brewer won with a score of -7 and in a playoff against Bob Goalby. Over the last five years, winners of the Sony Open in Hawaii include Hideki Matsuyama in 2022, Kevin Na in 2021, Cameron Smith in 2020, Matt Kuchar in 2019, and Patton Kizzire in 2018.
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Tournament purse: The prize money for this week’s event is $7.9M, the winner collects $1.422M and also earns himself 500 FedEx Cup points.
Course and key stats: Waialae Country Club in Honolulu is 7,044 yards in length, is a par 70, and the above-average sized greens are Bermudagrass. The winning score over the last five years ranges from -11 to -23, so much the same as last week, the winning score is largely dictated by the amount of wind that blows through on any given year. The record at this tournament is -28 and is held by John Huston who scored that in 1998 and won by 7 strokes over Tom Watson. Some key stats to factor in this week are, in order, strokes gained: putting, driving accuracy percentage, strokes gained: around the green, strokes gained: total, and strokes gained: approach. None of these stats, however, are super polarizing, except for maybe putting – the rest are merely average in terms of importance.
The field: We are back to a more normal format this week where 144 players will be in action and the top 65 golfers plus ties after round 2 will advance to play rounds 3 and 4 on the weekend. We have a few solid players in the field this week, highlighted by Jordan Spieth, Sungjae Im, Hideki Matsuyama, Tom Kim, and others. On a scale ranging from A to D, I rank the field strength to be a C+.
Three questions that are relevant to the Sony Open in Hawaii this week:
- Which 10 players have gained the most strokes total over their last 24 rounds? Taylor Montgomery, Tom Hoge, Maverick McNealy, Andrew Putnam, Brian Harman, Kurt Kitayama, Greyson Sigg, Will Gordon, Mackenzie Hughes, and Ben Griffin.
- Which 10 players does my custom model like the most? Andrew Putnam, Brendon Todd, Billy Horschel, Brian Harman, Tom Hoge, Ryan Palmer, Sungjae Im, Harris English, Aaron Rai, and K.H. Lee.
- Which 10 players gained the most strokes total at this event since 2018? Lucas Glover (4 rounds), Matt Kuchar (12 rounds), Corey Conners (16 rounds), Brendan Steele (10 rounds), Jordan Spieth (10 rounds), Webb Simpson (20 rounds), Hayden Buckley (4 rounds), Hideki Matsuyama (20 rounds), Patton Kizzire (18 rounds), and Christiaan Bezuidenhout (4 rounds).
All the best in your journey to win or at least be in the money in some contests this week – here are (in no particular order) 15 DFS golf picks on DraftKings (DK), plus I also include player salaries for DK. I consistently provide recent and seasonal finishes for each of my picks, their performances at the event over the last five years, and add in some tasty data.
15 Players Who Are High-Value Plays This Week – Get Them Into Your DFS Lineups
Tom Kim (Salary: DraftKings – $10.5K) – He just keeps rocking and rolling including getting off to a solid start this year with a T5 last week at the Sentry Tournament of Champions. His approach play is outstanding along with his short game, and when his putter goes off he seems to win. He has two wins in his last eight starts and four other top 13’s during that stretch. He has earned being the most expensive player this week and is worth paying up for in my opinion. Sony Open in Hawaii finishes over the last five years: None.
Taylor Montgomery (Salary: DraftKings – $9.0K) – The most important key stat this week is putting and Montgomery is one of the best, especially in this field. He has seven top 15’s over his last nine starts on the PGA Tour including a 3rd at the Fortinet Championship thanks to a ridiculous putter that week gaining 11.19 strokes on the greens. It’s hard to say what we’re going to get with Taylor this week along with lots of others who haven’t played for a month or two professionally, but I’m going to ride this young man until he goes cold. Sony Open in Hawaii finishes over the last five years: None.
Andrew Putnam (Salary: DraftKings – $8.0K) – Putnam is my top-ranked player in my custom model for this week, and I think it’s because of his sound approach and short game stats as he just keeps consistently gaining in the three stat categories. He had a T2 at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP five starts ago and has been really racking up the top 30’s since July of last year. I also like that he had a runner-up here four years ago. Sony Open in Hawaii finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T27, 2021 – Cut, 2020 – T57, 2019 – 2nd, and 2018 – T69.
Tom Hoge (Salary: DraftKings – $9.9K) – He’s hit or miss at this event with a 3rd and a T12 here since 2018 and his three other starts were missed cuts. I do like that he played in Hawaii last week and earned a T3 thanks to gaining 10.22 strokes on approach, and another positive is that he’s a regular stroke gainer with his putter. Sony Open in Hawaii finishes over the last five years: 2022 – Cut, 2021 – Cut, 2020 – T12, 2019 – Cut, and 2018 – T3.
K.H. Lee (Salary: DraftKings – $8.7K) – Lee has been solid over his last eight starts with three top 7’s including a T7 last week and has a pretty good overall stat profile. I’m favoring players who competed last week and did well, so K.H. falls into that category. Sony Open in Hawaii finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T48, 2021 – T19, 2020 – Cut, and 2019 – Cut.
J.J. Spaun (Salary: DraftKings – $8.4K) – If you like players who have done well over the years on certain courses – you likely won’t like Spaun this week since he has missed the cut here in three straight years. He did finish T5 last week, has three T15’s, and a T25 over his last six starts. I personally prefer recent results, so I’m going to roll out J.J. in a modest way this week and hope the warm streak continues. Sony Open in Hawaii finishes over the last five years: 2022 – Cut, 2021 – Cut, 2020 – Cut, and 2018 – T47.
Brian Harman (Salary: DraftKings – $9.7K) – He’s a model of consistency with ongoing top 10’s, top 20’s, and top 30’s, and prior to his T16 last week, he had a T2 at The RSM Classic and a 2nd at the World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba. He hasn’t exactly taken the fields by storm over the last three years here, but had a T14 in 2018 and has four top 20’s since 2015. Sony Open in Hawaii finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T48, 2021 – T56, 2020 – T32, 2019 – Cut, and 2018 – T4.
Corey Conners (Salary: DraftKings – $9.6K) – He’s not really known for good putting by any means, but has gained anywhere from 0.89 to 5.83 strokes on these greens in his four appearances since 2018, and has three straight top 12’s here including a T3 in 2019 where he gained 9.49 strokes ball striking and gained strokes in every major stat category. In fact, he has pretty much gained strokes across the board here over his last three starts except for one small loss around the green last year and a 0.05 loss on approach in 2020. If his putter shows up again this week then expect another top 12 since his ball striking is consistently strong. Sony Open in Hawaii finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T11, 2020 – T12, 2019 – T3, and 2018 – T39.
Patton Kizzire (Salary: DraftKings – $7.3K) – The 2018 winner has done quite well on this track over the years and it’s because his short game here has been spot on, especially his putting as he has gained more than 19 strokes on the greens since 2016. He did hit a rough patch recently with a few missed cuts, but he turned things around with a T10 in Mexico in early November and followed that up with a T35 at The RSM Classic, so there’s hope for another solid finish this week. I’m not too fond of the $6K and $7K ranges this week, but Kizzire seems like a decent pickup for a few stars and scrubs and hybrid lineups. Sony Open in Hawaii finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T42, 2021 – T7, 2020 – Cut, 2019 – T13, and 2018 – Won.
Keith Mitchell (Salary: DraftKings – 8.3K) – Mitchell has a pretty good track record here including a top 10 a year ago, and has been playing decent golf for a while now including a T9 two starts ago at the Houston Open gaining 7.13 strokes ball striking and gaining strokes across the board. If his strong putting returns this week as we know it can, then Keith could very well put up another top 10 this week, as well. Sony Open in Hawaii finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T7, 2021 – T14, 2020 – Cut, 2019 – T16, and 2018 – T25.
Cameron Davis (Salary: DraftKings – $8.5K) – He’s consistently good and pops for top 10’s from time to time when his hot ball striking takes over. His game has played well at this venue finishing no worse than T31 since 2020, and he popped in that same year with a T9 thanks to gaining 7.31 strokes ball striking. Sony Open in Hawaii finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T27, 2021 – T31, and 2020 – T9.
Ryan Armour (Salary: DraftKings – $6.9K) – I really don’t like the look of the $6K range this week, but Armour seems relatively safe given his nice results at this event and he has three straight cuts made and two T27’s during the stretch. His upside is limited since his stats are average to a bit above average and he doesn’t really pop in any one stat category very often anymore. Draft him in a lineup or two and hope for a 20 or 30-something finish – something he’s done in four out of the last five years here. Sony Open in Hawaii finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T20, 2021 – T32, 2020 – Cut, 2019 – T22, and 2018 – T39.
Alex Smalley (Salary: DraftKings – $7.8K) – You may have forgotten about Smalley as we haven’t seen him compete since last November, but he has back-to-back top 5’s, three straight top 11’s, and four top 25’s in his last five starts. I really like that he has gained more than 10 strokes ball striking over his last two starts and consistently gains with his putter. Sony Open in Hawaii finishes over the last five years: 2022 – Cut.
Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Salary: DraftKings – $8.1K) – He was absolutely dreadful in his most recent start losing 14.4 strokes ball striking at THE CJ CUP and finishing T65 in a small field, but prior to that he regularly finished fairly well and can go off with his putter at times. He had a top 20 here last year and I can see him doing something similar this week provided he has straightened out what ailed him at THE CJ CUP and I got to believe he has as that tournament was two and a half months ago. Sony Open in Hawaii finishes over the last five years: 2022 – T17.
