The SONY Open in Hawaii
Honolulu, Hawaii – As the PGA Tour island-hops from Maui to Oahu for this week’s SONY Open in Hawaii, the early week focus has been on the passing of Tim Rosaforte, the popular Golf TV commentator and most accomplished reporters. Rosaforte passed away at the young age of 66 from an aggressive form of Alzheimer’s disease.
On the links, the question at the SONY Open is always whether the players who competed at the year-opening Sentry Tournament of Champions have an edge at this tournament. Aside from adjusting to the Hawaiian Islands time zone, the other key difference is the full field of PGA Tour pros vs the relatively calm group of 37 champions who competed last weekend.
Australia’s Cameron Smith took the honors at Kapalua, outlasting the birdie-making machine of Jon Rahm. Rahm is passing on competing this week.
Reigning champion Kevin Na shot all four rounds in the 60s last week but finished 13th in the ultra-competitive event. Last year here at Waialae Country Club, Na posted a third-round (61) to make the difference for his $1,188,000 take home, beating the T-2s of Chris Kirk and Joaquin Neimann by a stroke.
Preview | SONY Open in Hawaii
COURSE: Waialae Country Club – (Honolulu, Hawaii)
ARCHITECT: Seth Raynor
YARDS/PAR: 7,044 yards/Par 70
PRIZE Money/First Place Winnings: $7,500,000/$1,350,000
DEFENDING CHAMPION: Kevin Na
PAST RESULTS: (link)
PAST CHAMPIONS: (link)
FEDEx CUP Points / to Winner: 500
SOCIAL MEDIA: #PGATour #FedExCup @SONYOpenHawaii
OFFICIAL SITE: (SONY Open)
TV COVERAGE: Primetime Golf for the second week in a row. Not a bad thing. On Thursday, January 13 and Friday, January 14: TV coverage goes from 7:00pm to 10:30pm (ET) on Golf Channel.
On Saturday, January 15, Round 3 coverage 7:00pm to 10:30pm (ET) on Golf Channel. On Sunday, January 16: With NFL Playoff wild Card weekend, the PGA Tour will be on Golf Channel from 6:00pm to 10:00pm (ET)
PGA TOUR LIVE STREAMING on ESPN+: Streaming coverage will be featured on ESPN-Plus for the second week, starting Thursday at 12:00pm Noon (ET) and continuing through 10:30pm (ET) with Featured Hole and Featured Groups.
On Saturday, ESPN+ will stream coverage at 12:00pm Noon to 10:30pm (ET). On Sunday, ESPN+ coverage is online at 4:00pm ET and 10:00pm ET.
PGA TOUR RADIO COVERAGE: SiriusXM Radio will have live radio coverage of the The SONY Open with Thursday and Friday broadcasts from 5:00pm to 10:30pm (ET). Weekend coverage on Sirius XM Radio runs from 5:00pm to 10:30pm on Saturday and from 5:00pm to 10:00pm (ET) on Sunday. PGA Tour Radio is available on Sirius 208/XM 92 or online via PGATour(dot)com.
How to Watch: In case of changes, visit: (PGATourCom)
The Basics:
The SONY Open Tee Times start Thursday at 7:10am (local)/12:10pm (ET) and going to 1:40pm (local)/6:40pm (ET).
Weather: Thursday’s forecast calls for mostly sunny skies. Temperature 75-degrees, but humidity 70% with winds 10 mph. Good weather (partly cloudy/sunny and low winds are expected all weekend. A 10% chance of rain. (link)
PGATourBrunch will post at Noon (ET) on Thursday.
Next Week: the American Express (LaQuinta) – back to the Mainland (link)