This article is part of our FanDuel PGA DFS Picks series.
Sony Open in Hawaii
Course: Waialae Country Club (7,044 yards, par 70)
Purse: $8,700,000
Winner: $1,566,000 and 500 FedExCup points
Tournament Preview
After a 59-man field Signature Event at Kapalua, the Sony Open in Hawaii is the second leg of the PGA Tour's "Opening Drive" and offers the first chance for the rest of the membership who did not qualify for The Sentry to make their season debut. This week at Waialae Country Club we are back to a standard event that makes up the majority of the schedule which features a 144-man field and a 36-hole cut. There will be plenty of players to watch and many hoping to start the season off with a bang. The Sony Open in Hawaii also is the first event of the Aon Swing 5 which holds weight in qualifying for the next two Signature Events in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am (Jan. 30-Feb. 2) and The Genesis Invitational (Feb. 13-16).
The question in Honolulu will be if anyone can slow down Hideki Matusyama. The Japanese superstar is coming off a victory at The Sentry in record-breaking fashion. Matsuyama's 35-under-par total last week was the lowest score-to-par in PGA Tour history, just eclipsing Cameron Smith's 34-under mark at the same event back in 2022. Speaking of the year 2022, Matsuyama was the champion of the Sony Open in Hawaii that year over Russell Henley in a playoff. Matsuyama will have a chance to join Ernie Els (2003) and Justin Thomas (2017) as players to pull off the Hawaii double in the same year.
Of course there are plenty of other players capable of taking down the now No. 5 ranked player. In total 35 players are making the trip from Maui to O'ahu, including Sahith Theegala, Robert MacIntyre and Keegan Bradley. While typically players that have teed it up at Kapalua have had success the following week at Waialae, the two courses could not be more different. Kapalua has the widest fairways and largest greens on the PGA Tour with extreme elevation changes, while Waialae is extremely flat and narrow. Kapalua gives players a canvas on how they want to play a shot, and Waialae is extremely demanding that you hit the shot required to find success.
This week will also be a bit of an emotional one as we remember the late Grayson Murray who passed away last May. A year ago at this tournament Murray authored his greatest triumph on the PGA Tour winning the Sony Open in Hawaii by holing a 40-footer for birdie on the first playoff hole. It was a truly great comeback story for a man who struggled for a long time with his game and personal life following a win in his rookie season at the Barbasol Championship in 2017.
A big topic of discussion at The Sentry a week ago was how much softer Kapalua played because of all the rain in the area in recent months leading up to the tournament. The same should be felt at Waialae. There are showers in the early-week forecast in Honolulu, bet it is expected to clear out by the time the first tee shot is hit on Thursday. That being sad, we should see less rollout on drives and players having the ability to take dead aim with relative ease. Steady 15-20 mph winds will be the primary defense of the course. The scoring won't be what it was at Kapalua on this par-70, but I'd expect the winning score to still reach 20-under.
Recent Champions
2024 - Grayson Murray (-17)
2023 - Si Woo Kim (-18)
2022 - Hideki Matsuyama (-23)
2021 - Kevin Na (-21)
2020 - Cameron Smith (-11)
2019 - Matt Kuchar (-22)
2018 - Patton Kizzire (-17)
2017 - Justin Thomas (-27)
2016 - Fabian Gomez (-20)
2015 - Jimmy Walker (-23)
Key Stats to Victory
- SG: Approach/GIR Percentage
- SG: Off-the-Tee/Driving Accuracy
- SG: Putting/Putts per GIR
- Proximity 125-150 and 150-175 yards
Champion's Profile
Waialae is a classic Seth Raynor design which is all about positioning. There are a lot of doglegs where players will have to work the ball in certain directions to be able to hold the fairway. It's also important to generate the proper angle to come into these greens from. This is a shot-maker's course where accurate ball-strikers tend to thrive. The property is blanketed in bermudagrass, which can provide challenges for players who aren't striking it clean out of the fairways. I'd also expect the rough to be a little more challenging because of the rain. We'll really focus on players who are able to consistently put themselves in good positions off the tee and excel with their short to mid-irons. I'll also want to include some players known for their putting, as these very flat greens can be filled up by a player who is dialed in with their stroke.
FanDuel Value Picks
The Chalk
Hideki Matsuyama ($12,500)
I typically don't like to go back to someone the week after they won, but Matsuyama has been able to sustain a heater before and he is putting with so much confidence now. He loves coming to Waialae having made 11 previous starts here, including that win in 2022. Matsuyama's iron play is back to vintage form and he's exactly the type of player you'd think of to fit this shot-making type of course. He also has one of the best short games on Tour for good measure.
Russell Henley ($11,400)
Henley has had a lot of success over the years at Waialae. He earned his first PGA Tour win here back in 2013 and has collected five top-20s since then, including a pair of top-5 finishes in the last three years. Henley has been one of the most accurate ball-strikers over the last several years, and he comes into the week having gained strokes on the greens in 10 of his last 11 starts. He has a great chance to pick up his first win since 2022 this week.
Maverick McNealy ($10,900)
It's hard to argue with McNealy's results of late, as he went T6-T17-1st-T8 over his last four starts. That first breakthrough win at The RSM Classic in November has to do wonders for his confidence. He proved that with a good showing at The Sentry where he finished top-5 in both SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Approach. If that strong ball striking continues look out because we know how strong his short game and putting are. McNealy was T7 at Waialae back in 2023.
The Middle Tier
Kurt Kitayama ($10,400)
Kitayama is coming off a marvelous ball-striking season. He ranked 16th in SG: Off-the-Tee and 10th in SG: Approach. Kitayama was also second in proximity from 150-175 yards, a range we will see a lot more this week than we did at Kapalua. He closed 2024 with three top-10s in his last five starts, and I think he's got a great chance at another one at Waialae where he has improved in every start.
Sepp Straka ($9,700)
The $9K range is loaded with a lot of quality options. Straka was one of my favorite plays all of last season and I'm going back to him early in 2025. He just fits the course beautifully well as one of the most accurate drivers on Tour who has gained north of one stroke per round on approach in his last four tournaments. Straka is 3-for-4 at Waialae with a top-25 finish. He's not the most consistent putter, but is able to pop on occasion and rack up the high finishes.
Daniel Berger ($9,200)
Berger earned his PGA Tour card back for 2025 with a strong close to 2024, including a T2 finish at the RSM Classic. It's been a long road to this point after back injuries nearly ended his career. Berger is feeling great again and is ready to show why he was one of the top players on Tour just a few years ago. He has never missed a cut in six starts at Waialae and owns a trio of top-15 finishes. Berger was top-25 in SG: Tee-to-Green last season.
The Long Shots
Andrew Putnam ($8,600)
Waialae has been one of Putnam's best courses on Tour. He owns a runner-up in 2019, a T4 in 2023 and a T10 last year. He sees the lines on these greens so well as he ranked seventh in SG: Putting for the week in 2024, first in 2023 and first in 2019. Last season Putnam made major strides with his iron play and finished the season gaining strokes on approach in eight of his last nine measured events.
Max McGreevy ($8,500)
It seems every year there is a player who graduates from the Korn Ferry Tour and immediately starts putting up consistent results. That man may very well be McGreevy, who won twice on the KFT last season en route to a second-place finish in the standings. Much was made of Matt McCarty winning at the Black Desert Championship, but McGreevy finished T11 in that event and followed that with a four-shot win at the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament over the likes of Matusyama and Akshay Bhatia. He's got no glaring weaknesses in his game.
Henrik Norlander ($8,000)
Norlander has been one of the better iron players on Tour over the last few years. Last season the Swede ranked 11th in SG: Approach and eighth in GIR percentage. Norlander was also 15th in driving accuracy and fourth in scrambling. He racked up 12 top-25s across multiple tours in 2025. The putting is always the one things to watch, but Norlander has gained strokes on the greens in four of six career appearances at Waialae which includes a pair of top-20 finishes.
Strategy Tips This Week
Based on a Standard $60K Salary Cap
We didn't have the Friday cut sweats a week ago, but get ready for a nail-bitting return this week. The first few full-field events of the year are always extremely difficult to go a perfect 6-for-6. There's just so many variables tossed around. Can a player ride the momentum from a strong fall? Can a player get back to form after a tough finish to 2024? Who has made offseason swing changes and how will they work out? We can only make decisions with the information in front of us, but sometimes there's things we can't see that make a big impact on a player's performance going into a new season. Waialae in general is one of the more predictive courses on Tour. Players typically perform well here year over year, and it probably also says something about those players who are good at cracking the whip and getting off to hot starts to seasons. If you're deciding between a couple different players, course history should be the final determining factor this week.
Scanning the betting board for the Sony Open in Hawaii? Check out the FanDuel Promo Code!
