Sony Open 2025 Preview & Best Bets
A brief course preview with must know information about this weeks event & best bets for the 2025 Sony Open in Hawaii.
The PGA Tour is back; the 2025 season kicked off last weekend with The Sentry, “The Tournament of Champions”, held at the Kapalua Plantation Course. The PGA continues its Aloha Swing through Hawaii this week, moving to Waialae Country Club for the Sony Open.
Sony Open - Course Preview
Waialae CC is a short par-70 track playing 7,044 yards; while situated on the coast, the course only has four holes with water danger in play. The creative layout has close to the most dog legs of any course played on tour, making players think their way around the course.
While the course has the 10th widest fairways of courses played on tour, it will still play fairly tight with trees overhanging the edges of fairways. This will make accuracy off-the-tee imperative in setting up an unblocked approach shot in and off the edges of the fairway.
The leaders are going to separate themselves on the second shot this weekend. Waialee has the 8th largest greens on tour. Still, with 82.4% of approaches being hit from inside 200 yards last year, proximity to the hole will be a huge difference-maker this weekend, and stealing birdies on par fours above the field average this weekend will be the key to success.
Putting on these greens at Waialae has proved easier than at most other courses played on the PGA Tour, however the Bermuda seed gives the unique element of grain in the green that the pros always have to adjust too. While more manageable than most, to compete at Waialae these pros will need a hot flatstick to covert on birdie putts and avoid three-putts at all costs.
Sony Open Outright Picks
Austin Eckroat (+3700)
Taylor Pendrith (+3700)
Harry Hall (+5500)
Nicolas Echavarria (+10000)
These bets have enough risk to return 4.00u on Bet365’s “Enhanced Win” market. More on these guys below!
Sony Open Top Finisher Picks
Taylor Pendrith Top 20 (+150) - Bet365
Pendrith has been on fire. He has placed in the top 20 in seven of the eight tournaments he has attended since July, with the outlier being a T22 finish. Coming into this event over the last six months, Pendrith ranks 14th in SG: Approach, fifth in SG: Ball Striking and seventh in SG: Tee-To-Green. Pendrith has also been rocking a hot flat-stick ranking 15th in the field in SG: Putting over the last six months.
Harry Hall Top 30 Finish (+125) - Bet365
Hall first earned a PGA Tour card in 2023, after a rough rookie season Hall was much more consistent in 2024 and truly started to compete in the back half of the season. Hall has finished in the top 30 in six of the last eight PGA events he has entered and eight of the previous 11, including the three DP World Tour events he played in last summer. Hall is an excellent all-around tee-to-green player and one of the event's best putters. He has one top-30 finish at this event in 2023 and just outside the top 30 in 2024. With him swinging it well coming into this event, I’ll take a swing he can get another top-30 finish.
Nicolas Echavarria Top 40 Finish (+115) - Bet365
I spent almost the entire 2024 season fading this guy and backing Jhonattan Vegas in the top South American golfer market. However, Echavarria has been on fire, finishing in the top 40 in five straight events and eight of the last 11 events he has attended. In the previous three months, Echavarria ranked fifth in SG: Approach and 16th near the hole. Pair that with his ranking sixth in SG: Putting over the last three months, and you are looking at a recipe for success this weekend.
Sony Open Top Nationality Prop
Henrik Norlander (+150) Top Swedish Finisher
This is a four-person group, Norlander being the favourite, followed by Jesper Svensson, who has had a successful start to his DP World Tour Career but will be playing in his first PGA Tour event that is not located in Europe (He has played Scottish Open once). The other two in the group are Tim Widing and Vicent Norrman. I am not looking into these two, considering my model has given them less than a 1% chance of winning. Norlander has made six cuts in the last seven events he has been in. He has finished inside the top 30 in four of the previous five events he has been in. He has the most experience on this course of all four, and has had success at this venue having a T10 finish under his belt a Waialae CC. I like the value of this play in a group with three of the weaker golfers in the field.
All top finisher & nationality props. Risking 1.00u
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