The PGA Tour season starts this week in Hawaii, with the 2025 Sony Open in Hawaii kicking off the year with the first full-field tournament at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii.
My PGA Tour field rankings for the old Hawaii Open look at the top 10 players in this 144-player field that brings together the PGA Tour's exempt players from the top 125 and the Korn Ferry Tour grads from last year, which all got in this field.
The Sony Open in Hawaii is a great tournament. Waialae Country Club is such a 180 from Kapalua's Plantation Course, as it's a Seth Raynor design played as a par 70 with constricting features like in-course out of bounds. Ballstrikers thrive here above all else, and then they can make the close putts that come from great approach play.
In most years, the winner of this tournament hovers around the 20 under par number, and they're almost always a ballstriker and a poor putter that just happens to get the ball in a lot for that particular week. This is also typically a tight tournament, with five playoffs in the last nine years. We also tend to get Waialae winners that played the week prior at Kapalua.
Just a reminder that I make my expert picks looking at all fantasy leagues and formats. Whether you're playing in a fantasy golf leagues, betting on golf, or competing in a DFS (DraftKings, FanDuel) event, our picks highlight the top PGA Tour golfers to watch this week from our 2025 The Sentry rankings.
2025 Sony Open in Hawaii expert picks and rankings
1. Hideki Matsuyama: Hideki won last week, and he won here two years ago. If the putter magic from the new wand he used at Kapalua sticks around to Honolulu, then he's got a shot to go back-to-back.
2. Corey Conners: Conners had himself a good week in Kapalua, and he's also a fixture in the top 12 of the Sony Open leaderboard.
3. Keegan Bradley: Bradley finished T-15 at Kapalua and only had one round below course average, but he's been strong here many times.
4. Thomas Detry: Detry is probably too high on this list, but I'm a fan. The T-5 at Kapalua was great, but I think he prefers the narrower courses.
5. Russell Henley: Henley had a perfectly cromulent week at Kapalua, right in the dead middle of the field. Expect better here.
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6. Byeong Hun An: Ben An has been close here in the last two years, and I wouldn't be surprised to see another run this week.
7. Sahith Theegala: I mentioned last week that Theegala tends to do his best work on tighter courses, and I maintain that. He opened poorly at The Sentry but played top-15 golf after that.
8. Ben Griffin: Griffin played tremendous golf throughout the fall, including an 8th place at Bermuda (a personal favorite of his) and a T-15 at the RSM, whose host course is tight like Kapalua.
9. Si Woo Kim: Si Woo was a winner here two years ago, and he kind of wins out of nowhere. However, his T-32 at Kapalua ran counter to his great summer and fall of 2024.
10. Taylor Pendrith: Pendrith gets on here because of a great debut at The Sentry, though I'm not convinced he's going to like playing here.
