Sony Open 2024
Overview
Dates: January 11, 2024 to January 14, 2024
Location: Honolulu
Course: Waialae Country Club
Course Par: 70
Course Length: 7044
Prize Purse: $8300000
The Tour stays in Hawaii for a second week, although the test could hardly be more different. While
Kapalua was long and wide open, Waialae is a much more compact, shorter, tighter layout. So
although many of the previous winners of this event have had a warm up in the Sentry, it may be
unwise to expect a strong correlation between those who topped the leaderboard in the season-
opener and those we see contending this weekend.
Preview
Outrights
| Player | Points | Type | UK Odds | Places | Outright US Odds |
| Brian Harman | 3.5 | Each Way | 20/1 | 8 | +2000 |
| Tyler Duncan | 1.5 | Each Eay | 150/1 | 8 | +15000 |
| Alexander Bjork | 1 | Each Way | 100/1 | 8 | +12500 |
| Harris Engish | 2.5 | Each Way | 28/1 | 8 | +3500 |
We’ll get straight to the point – putting and accuracy off the tee are right at the top of our list of
attributes we’re looking for to contend here. Get yourself out of position and it can be very tricky to
put together a potential winning score. That immediately helps us to whittle the field down and to
readily discard some of those towards the front of the market.
Top billing goes to Brian Harman (3.5pts each way, 20/1, 8 places), who fits the bill perfectly and
really should excel here. He tops the field on total strokes gained in the last six months, ranks
second in putting and inside the top 20 on accuracy off the tee. Three top 10s from his last five
events indicate that he’s carried on the form that saw him take out his first major in The Open, and a
fine performance (T5) in the Sentry on a course that would suit a whole lot less than Waialae should
have blown away any off-season cobwebs. We’d have him as outright favourite here and 20/1 is
decent value for someone who looks rock-solid to contend.
Next on our list is Tyler Duncan (1.5pts each way, 150/1, 8 places) – another whose strengths lie in
accuracy both from the tee and with the putter. Sitting nicely inside the top 40 in total strokes
gained since July, the odd missed cut has been interspersed with three recent top 20s, so his overall
profile and recent form are strong enough to make him a very interesting longshot at the prices on
offer. A blowout is possible, but we’re very happy to take the chance that this could be a big week
for him.
Another longshot whose stats suggest he may do a little better than expected is Alexander Bjork
(1pt each way, 100/1, 10 places). He’s well down the field on strokes gained off the tee, but that is
almost entirely down to a lack of length, so a course measuring around 7000 yards should mitigate
this disadvantage somewhat. Following a few missed cuts, he bounced back to some sort of form
with a top 10 in the Nedback and a top 40 in the DP World Tour Championship (at a much longer
course than this one). Ranking inside the top 25 in the field on approach and putting, this may just
be a good week for a small investment in the Swede.
Our final pick goes to Harris English (2.5pts each way, 28/1, 8 places), who has performed well at
this venue before, has been driving and, in particular, putting supremely well in recent times, and if
he can just find a touch more accuracy on approach, is a very realistic prospect to win this event.
Five straight cuts made in his most recent outings include three top 30s and he looks very likely to go
well again this week.
There were plenty of others to consider closely, amongst whom JT Poston was reluctantly left out as
we’d hoped for a slightly bigger price and Sahith Theegala due to slight concerns from the tee,
although he certainly has the short game to help mitigate any errors in that department. Justin Rose
also came very close to inclusion having shown up well here in the past, although didn’t quite have
the recent form to persuade us to get involved at the available prices.