Is Keegan Bradley primed for a giant week at the Sony?
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Aloha once more, mates.
When you journey to Hawaii, it may be powerful to go away.
The PGA Tour is aware of the lure of the islands. As it does annually after Kapalua, it’s lingering in Hawaii for an additional week, puddle-jumping from Maui to Oahu for the Sony Open, at Wai’alae Country Club.
Unlike final week’s no-cut Sentry Tournament of Champions, the Sony encompasses a full area of 144 gamers, together with defending champion Hideki Matsuyama. Sungjae Im and Jordan Spieth might be readily available as nicely, however neither ranks as the present betting favourite. That honor goes to the 20-year-old rising star, Tom Kim, who’s a contemporary of a T-5 end at the Sentry.
2023 Sony Open odds: Jordan Spieth edged out for betting favourite in Hawaii
Kevin Cunningham
This week’s host course is a par-70 Seth Raynor design with a historical past of yielding birdies in bunches. The scoreboard ought to bleed pink, and if all goes proper, any performs we make will flip up roses.
For assist with that, we’ve made a rock-solid pre-tournament decide of Brady Kannon as our new betting expert. Kannon places the “pro” in prognosticator. A seasoned golf bettor, with greater than 20 years of expertise, he’s an on-air host for VSiN (Vegas Stats & Information Network), and host and creator of Longshots, the community’s golf betting present, now in its fifth season. You can observe Kannon on Twitter at @LasVegasGolfer, and you’ll learn his 4 favourite Sony picks beneath, alongside together with his methodology and rationale.
Because we prefer to know the place public sentiment is leaning, too, we’re additionally sharing knowledge from Chirp, a free-to-play mobile platform (and GOLF.com affiliate) that gives an array of attractive prizes (see beneath) Even with out risking cash, you can win. After trying out Kannon’s picks, hold scrolling to see which “favorite” Chirp customers are leaning towards this week.
Kannon’s Take
This week’s course, Wai’alae, presents a markedly completely different take a look at from what we noticed final week in Maui. The Plantation Course at Kapalua is an enormous property — a par-73 with undulations, elevation change, among the widest fairways on Tour and big greens. Waialae is a slender, brief, par-70 course with flat, small greens and thick tough. One similarity, nevertheless, is that each programs want the wind to blow to essentially take a look at the gamers. It appears to be like like it’ll blow just a little bit on Thursday and a few extra on Sunday however nothing too loopy at the moment is forecast.
To inform my picks, I studied Strokes Gained: Approach, SG: Around-the-Greens, SG: Putting (on Bermuda Grass) and SG: Par 4s. I additionally seemed at Greens in Regulation Gained and Driving Accuracy. In evaluating how gamers have carried out at programs which are akin to Wai’alae, I used El Camaleon at Mayakoba, Sea Island (RSM Classic), Harbour Town (RBC Heritage), and Colonial Country Club (Charles Schwab Challenge).
4 picks I prefer to win the Sony Open
Brian Harman (20-1)
Harman comes off a wrap-around season wherein he completed second twice — and people runner-up showings got here at two of our comp programs, Mayakoba and Sea Island. Harman is fifth on Tour in Driving Accuracy, 14th in Greens in Regulation, 4th in Scrambling and eighth in Birdie Average. He has completed as excessive as 4th right here at Wai’alae previously and has a Twentieth-place end and a pair of thirteenth’s. He additionally has three top-10 finishes at each Colonial and Sea Island.
Russell Henley (25-1)
If Georgia can win back-to-back National Championships, why not go together with Bulldogs to win back-to-back Sonys, in each Harman and Henley? Henley was your winner at Mayakoba two months in the past, besting Harman by 4 pictures. He has additionally gained right here at the Sony, and has completed 2nd, eleventh and twice inside the highest 20. He has two high 10s at Harbour Town and three at Sea Island — so, like Harman, Henley additionally checks out on the efficiency historical past at the comp programs. He is primary on Tour in Driving Accuracy, and during the last 24 rounds he ranks 4th on this area for SG: Approach and Par-4 Scoring.
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Keegan Bradley (36-1)
Bradley is one other current winner, having captured the Zozo in mid-October. Five of the final eight Sony winners have had a win within the earlier fall. Bradley matches up nicely with all of the stats I seemed at this week however placing has all the time been his downfall. But he’s gotten higher and completed 88th on Tour final season in SG: Putting. He’s completed thirteenth right here earlier than and twelfth twice. He’s additionally been eighth at fifteenth at Mayakoba previously.
Andrew Putnam (50-1)
He performed very nicely in the course of the Fall Series, ending second to Bradley at the Zozo and twelfth at the Shriners in Las Vegas the week prior — after which completed twenty first at the RSM Classic simply earlier than Thanksgiving. Driving Accuracy and work each on and across the greens are Putnam’s strengths. Over the final 24 rounds, he’s tenth on this area for SG: Putting (Bermuda Grass) and 18th in Fairways Gained. He took 2nd right here at the Sony 4 years in the past and likewise has a Third-place end at Colonial together with a fifteenth and a Twentieth.
Who Chirp customers prefer to win
Jordan Spieth – 47.92%*
Tom Kim – 27.76%
Hideki Matsuyama – 9.29%
*Percent of customers who picked this participant to win in Chrip’s “Favorite” class.
