Sony Open golf: can Cameron Smith go back to back?

It’s the second part of the Hawaii swing as we island hop from Maui to Oahu where Honolulu is the venue for the Sony Open on the PGA Tour. 

We saw history at the Sentry Tournament of Champions as Cameron Smith set a new record for the lowest score on the PGA Tour with his 34-under par winning total. 

Conditions were perfect in Maui as World No.1 Jon Rahm also broke the previous best of 31-under as he finished just a shot behind the winner after a thrilling final round. 

Smith is among half of the field from the Sentry that’s making the short 70-odd mile journey to Honolulu and the Waialae Country Club – which has hosted this event since it was introduced onto the PGA Tour as the Hawaiian Open in 1965. 

There’s not as much quality in the field as last week, but there’s still four of the world’s top 20 on show, which was headlined by World No.8 Bryson DeChambeau before his late withdrawal, but still contains current Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama. 

Jon Rahm's -33 saw him finish runner-up at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, a shot behind winner Cameron Smith, who hit a new PGA Tour record low of -34

 

A tighter track but more low scoring 

From the vast wide-open fairways of Maui, Waialae Country Club is a lot tighter with narrow fairways and much more of an emphasis on driving accuracy, while the greens are also smaller than last week’s. 

It’s also a shorter track, but still yields plenty of birdies as these PGA Tour pros don’t want to come out to Hawaii for a slog – scoring will still be low. 

Five of the last seven winners have shot 20-under or better, and it had the lowest tournament average on the entire PGA Tour last year. 

So a straight driver, sharp irons and hot putter is required here with another birdie fest in prospect unless the wind really kicks up. 

After last week’s invitation event, this is the first full-field event of the year with many players having sat out since November. 

Can Smith go back-to-back? 

Smith arrives on the high of winning, and he’s also lifted the title here just a couple of years ago – as one of six players who have now claimed both legs of the ‘Aloha Swing’. 

Although winning back-to-back is relatively rare, it’s happened twice here this century with Ernie Els and Justin Thomas both claiming the Sony Open a week after winning the Sentry Tournament of Champions. 

And while winning isn’t essential, it pays here to have played at Kapalua the week before, with 16 of the last 23 Sony Open champions having also teed it up the week before. 

Smith is a worthy 10.5 favourite here and should be at the sharp end again come Sunday. 

Defending champion Kevin Na is a 30 shot as many feel he won’t repeat last year’s success – he's got more missed cuts here (three) than Top 10s (two) over the last decade. 

A big challenge is expected from Marc Leishman at 21, after finishing T10 last week and he's finished fourth and third here in the last three years. 

Webb Simpson has top five finishes on his last three visits so it’s no surprise to see him among the market leaders at 18. 

A couple at bigger prices that also have some serious course form include 38 shot Kevin Kisner, who finished inside the top 10 last week despite Kapalua being a bit long for him. 

Kisner has three top fives here in his last six trips, and he ranked third for strokes gained putting last week, which is a good indicator for the challenge of winning here on greens of similar speeds in similar conditions. 

You can get 80 on Brendan Steele making it third time lucky here after coming agonisingly close to lifting the title for the last two years when finishing second and fourth. 

Steele blew a 54-hole lead last year to finish fourth – 12 months after losing a play-off to Cameron Smith. He’s not played yet this year but his form around this track means he’s worth an each-way bet, and he’s 15 to grab another place for the third year running. 

Reccomended bets

Back Webb simpson at 18

Back Kevin Kisner at 38

Back Brendan Steele at 80