Although this is the second tournament of the new 2025 PGA Tour season, this week’s Sony Open is the first tournament of the year where a full field will be in attendance.
Following last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions, the best players on the PGA Tour remain in Hawaii and this week’s event will take place on one of the most picturesque settings of the entire PGA Tour calendar, the Waialae Country Club.
Ahead of the action kicking off, here is everything that you need to know.
The Course
The Waialae Country Club is one of the most timeless courses that PGA players will face all season. Opened almost 100 years ago, the look and feel of the tournament is vastly different to last week’s Kapalua Plantation Course.
Set amidst a tight parkland environment with tree lined fairways, the course measures at just over a fraction over 7,000 yards and despite the bigger hitters having the ability to greatly overpower the course, the narrowness of the fairways will certainly make it harder to score than at last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions, however due to relatively short yardage you can still expect to see plenty of birdies.
To be a contender this week accuracy is key. Any player veering offline could have a time scoring the birdies they need so driving accuracy and dialled in approach play is an absolute must.
Who Are The Favourites?
Following his exploits at last week’s Tournament of Champions, it isn’t a surprise that Hideki Matsuyama is the firm favourite for victory.
A superb display of ball striking and putting saw the former Masters Champion post a stunning winning score of -35 and if he is in the same mood this week, he could be incredibly difficult to stop.
For those who like to back favourites they should also take comfort in the fact that Matsuyama is a former winner around the Waialae Country Club and knows what it takes to be successful around this track.
Over the last four months only Scottie Scheffler has a better record than Matsuyama. A winner of the St Jude Championship, the Japanese star could have been a major threat to Scheffler at the Tour Championship, however a back injury and subsequent withdrawal from the BMW Championship stopped his challenge in its tracks.
He heads into this week roaring with confidence and few would be surprised if he were to find himself inside the winner’s circle once more.
Corey Connors comes next in the betting. Usually one of the most consistent players on the PGA Tour, Connors had a tough 2024 but over the course of the last few months seems to have rediscovered his best swing.
A fifth place finish at last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions followed a sixth place effort down in South Africa and another top ten during his last PGA Tour start last year.
Connors has the ability to make plenty of birdies this week due to the sheer number of fairways and greens that he is likely to hit. Although not a huge hitter, this week’s yardage should be right up his alley and he will hope to carry over his good form into this week’s event.
Completing the top three in the betting is South Korean star, Tom Kim.
Kim has become somewhat of a PGA Tour veteran but it’s easy to forget that he is still just 22 and one of the younger faces in the professional game.
Similarly to Corey Connors, Kim didn’t have his best season last year and that was summed up by the fact that his season was ended after the St Jude Championship with him failing to reach the top 50 of the FedEx Playoffs.
Following his early elimination from the FedEx Playoffs last season, Kim has made few appearances, however in the four tournaments he has subsequently played he has been able to record two second place finishes so has his game trending in the right direction. Over the years this has been a course that has been kind to players from Asia and Kim will hope to find the set up at the Waialae Country Club exactly to his liking.
What Other Players Should we be Keeping an Eye on?
As is the nature of most PGA Tour events there are plenty of players to keep an eye on this week.
One of the best priced players of the week looks to be Maverick McNealy. A first time winner on the PGA Tour last season when capturing the RSM Classic, McNealy took his place at last week’s Sentry field and made the most of it by producing some solid golf to finish in eighth place.
Now ranked 28 in the world, the young American will be looking to make another big leap in 2025 and few would be surprised to see him in contention by the time the final round rolls around.
At 30/1 Sahith Theegala is without doubt one of the best priced longer shots. 2024 was the popular American’s breakthrough season and he finished the year ranked just outside of the top ten.
With the removal of the staggered scoring at the season ending Tour Championship, Theegala would have finished second and confirmed that he has a game that firmly belongs with the very best in the game.
Clearly rusty at last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions, he could only finish well down the field in 36th place but he will hope that his efforts last week will set himself up nicely for a challenge this week. An absolute birdie machine when at his best, he has the ability to devour the short yardages that are offer on this week.
One final player to keep an eye on is Robert MacIntyre. After initially struggling to get to grips with life on the PGA Tour the Scot was one of the stories of the season, bagging titles at the Canadian Open and more memorably in front of his home fans at the Scottish Open.
Now one of Europe’s best players, MacIntyre is another who will be looking to make a big leap this season. Set to star for Europe at the 2025 Ryder Cup, expect a big week from the pugnacious Scot.
Jack Hartman
A keen golfer and huge fan of the game, Jack has been covering golf for the last five years. Bringing you all the latest coverage and news from the PGA, LIV, LPGA and DP World Tours, never before has golf been so popular and Jack can’t wait to bring all the excitement to his readers.
