4 picks our expert loves in Wai’alae

Aloha once more, guys.

Leaving might be tough if you journey to Hawaii.

PGA Tour is aware of the appeal of the islands. Like yearly after Kapalua Hawaii One other week, puddle leaping from Maui to Oahu for the Sony Open at Wai’alae Nation Membership.

Completely different last week’s nonstop Sentry Champions TournamentSony has a full discipline of 144 gamers, together with the defending champion Hideki Matsuyama. Sungjae me and Jordan Spieth will even be out there, however neither are listed as present betting favourites. That honor goes to the 20-year-old rising star, who is tomWith a brand new T-5 end on Sentry.

This week’s host course is 70 par-Seth Raynor designs with a historical past of birding in clusters. The leaderboard ought to flip purple and if all goes properly, each sport we make will flip rose.

To assist with this, we have made a really stable pre-tournament choice. Brady Kannon as our new betting professional. Kannon places “skilled” in prognosticator. A seasoned golf bookie with greater than 20 years of expertise, reside stream host and host and creator for VSiN (Vegas Stats & Data Community) lengthy picturesThe community’s golf betting program is now in its fifth season. You possibly can comply with Kannon on Twitter at: @LasVegasGolferand under you’ll be able to learn his 4 favourite Sony picks alongside together with his methodology and logic.

We additionally share knowledge from Chirp as a result of we need to know the place the general public’s sentiment is leaning as properly. free-to-play mobile platform (and its GOLF.com affiliate), providing a variety of engaging rewards (see under) Even with out risking cash, you can win. After testing Kannon’s picks, maintain scrolling to see which “favourite” Chirp customers are leaning in the direction of this week.

Kannon’s Buy

This week’s course, Wai’alae, presents a really completely different take a look at from the one we noticed final week in Maui. Plantation Course in Kapalua an enormous property – par-73 with undulations, elevation change, among the widest grass paths on the Tour, and big greenery. Waialae is a slender, brief, par-70 course with flat, small foliage and thick roughness. One similarity, nonetheless, is that each pitches want the wind blowing to essentially take a look at the gamers. It seems to be like it should blow a bit of on Thursday and a bit of extra on Sunday, however nothing too loopy is predicted proper now.

I labored on Hits Gained: Method, SG: Across the Greens, SG: Placing (in Bermuda Grass) and SG: Par 4s to help my decisions. I additionally seemed on the Greens in Earned Regulation and Driving Accuracy. I used El Camaleon at Mayakoba, Sea Island (RSM Traditional), Harbor City (RBC Heritage), and Colonial Nation Membership (Charles Schwab Problem) when evaluating how gamers carried out on tracks akin to Wai’alae.

4 picks I wish to win the Sony Open

Brian Harman (20-1)

Harman accomplished a season the place he completed second twice – and people runners-up reveals got here in two of our prep programs, Mayakoba and Sea Island. Harman is fifth in Lap on Driving Accuracy, 14th in Greens in Association, 4th in Scrambling and eighth in Birdie Common. in line. Previously right here at Wai’alae he completed as excessive as 4th and completed twentieth and a double thirteenth. He additionally completed within the prime 10 thrice in each Colonial and Sea Island.

Russell Henley (25-1)

If Georgia can win back-to-back Nationwide Championships, why not go win back-to-back Sonys with the Bulldogs at each Harman and Henley? Henley was your winner at Mayakoba two months in the past, beating Harman by 4 pictures. He additionally received at Sony right here, putting 2nd, eleventh, and twice within the prime 20. It has two prime 10s in Harbor City and three in Sea Island – so, like Harman, Henley checks its efficiency historical past at obligatory programs. Primary on Lap in Driving Accuracy and 4th on this discipline for SG: Method and Par-4 Scoring within the final 24 rounds.

Keegan Bradley (36-1)

Bradley is one other latest winner, taking up Zozo in mid-October. 5 of the final eight Sony winners have received the earlier fall. Bradley matches properly with all of the stats I’ve checked out this week however placing it has all the time been his downfall. However he acquired higher and completed the Tour 88th in final season’s SG: Placing. Been right here thirteenth earlier than and twelfth twice. He additionally positioned eighth in Mayakoba previously fifteenth.

Andrew Putnam (50-1)

He performed very properly in the course of the Fall Collection, ending second behind Bradley on the Zozo the week earlier than, and twelfth on the Shriners in Las Vegas, after which twenty first on the RSM Traditional simply earlier than Thanksgiving. Driving Accuracy and dealing each on and across the monitor are Putnam’s strengths. Within the final 24 rounds, SG: completed tenth for Placing (Bermuda Grass) and 18th for Fairways Gained. 4 years in the past it was 2nd right here at Sony and in addition third place at Colonial together with fifteenth and twentieth.

Who do Chirp customers need to win?

Jordan Spieth – 47.92%*

Tom Kim – 27.76%

Hideki Matsuyama – 9.29%

*Proportion of customers who selected this participant to win within the ‘Favourite’ class of Chrip.

Josh Sens

Golf.com Contributor

A golf, meals and journey author, Josh Sens has been a contributor to GOLF Journal since 2004 and is at the moment a contributor to all of GOLF’s platforms. His work has been anthologized in The Finest American Sportswriting. He’s additionally the co-author of Are We Have Any Enjoyable But: the Cooking and Partying Handbook with Sammy Hagar.