Field Level Media’s Golf Glance provides weekly news and storylines from each of the major North American golf tours.
PGA TOUR
LAST TOURNAMENT: The Sentry (Chris Kirk)
THIS WEEK: Sony Open in Hawaii, Honolulu, Jan. 11-14
Course: Waialae Country Club (Par 70, 7,044 yards)
Purse: $8.3M (Winner: $1.494M)
Defending Champion: Si Woo Kim
FedEx Cup Leader: Kirk
HOW TO FOLLOW
TV: Thursday-Saturday, 7-10:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Sunday, 4-6 p.m. (NBC), 6-8 p.m. (GC)
Streaming (ESPN+): Thursday-Friday, 12-10:30 p.m. ET; Saturday, 3:30-10:30 p.m.; Sunday, 1-8 p.m.
X: @SonyOpen
NOTES: With the tour’s return to a calendar season following the FedEx Fall series, the Sony Open is the first full-field event of 2024. It has drawn five top-20 players this year in No. 8 Matt Fitzpatrick, No. 9 Brian Harman, No. 14 Tyrrell Hatton, No. 16 Keegan Bradley and No. 20 Sahith Theegala. They are five of the 38 players who also competed in The Sentry. … Former U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland will make his first start since undergoing surgery to remove a brain tumor in September. … Will Zalatoris will make his first official PGA Tour start since withdrawing from the WGC-Match Play last March and undergoing surgery the following month. He finished 20th in last month’s unofficial Hero World Challenge. … Fifteen of the 36 rookies on tour this season are in the field, including brothers Parker and Pierceson Coody. … Tyler McCumber will make his first tour start since the 2022 Cognizant Classic as he plays out of the major medical extension category following a shoulder injury.
BEST BETS: Ludvig Aberg (+1600 at BetMGM) is coming off a T47 last week in his first start since winning the RSM Classic in November. … Fitzpatrick (+1600) is the highest ranked player in the field at No. 8 and is coming off a T14 last week. … Hatton (+1600) enters in good form, with a T2, T11 and T14 in his past four starts. … Harman (+2200) is coming off a T5 last week while making his 13th consecutive start at Waialae, a course he said “suits me.” … Kirk (+2800) is trying to become the first player to win the first two events of the season since Ernie Els in 2003. He has five top-10 finishes at the Sony, including a T2 in 2021. … Sahith Theegala (+2800) finished a shot behind Kirk at The Sentry to move up to a career-best 20th in the world rankings. … Hideki Matsuyama is coming off a missed cut and has fallen to 50th in the world rankings, but knows Waialae well and was the 2022 champion. … Akshay Bhatia (+6000) was in contention last week before closing with a 71 to finish T14 for his fourth top-21 finish in his past five starts.
NEXT TOURNAMENT: The American Express, La Quinta, Calif., Jan. 18-21
LPGA Tour
LAST TOURNAMENT: CME Group Tour Championship (Amy Yang)
THIS WEEK: OFF.
Race to the CME Globe winner: Lilia Vu
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Tournament of Champions, Orlando, Fla., Jan. 18-21
PGA Tour Champions
LAST TOURNAMENT: Charles Schwab Cup Championship (Steven Alker)
THIS WEEK: OFF.
Charles Schwab Cup champion: Steve Stricker
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Mitsubishi Electric Championship at Hualalai, Maui, Hawaii, Jan. 18-20
LIV Golf League
THIS WEEK: OFF.
Series Winners: Talor Gooch (Individual), Crushers GC (Team)
NEXT TOURNAMENT: Mayakoba, Mexico, Feb. 2-4
–Field Level Media
