Sony Open in Hawaii
One and Done has been rapidly growing over the last few years and it has become one of the most popular ways to play fantasy golf. RotoWire's panel of golf experts will once again take you through their favorite OAD play and fade each week. All members of the panel will be taking part in the RotoWire OAD league again this year, which starts this week and goes through the TOUR Championship. There are certain quarterly bonuses throughout the season, as well as the top performer at the majors, in addition to the season-long standings. Many OAD leagues use this type of scoring. While there are incentives to keep all members active throughout the season, we all want to be there at the end with a shot to take home the top prize. What better way to start than to find a winner this week at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
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Course Tidbits
- Course: Waialae Country Club (7,044 yards, par 70)
- Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
- Purse: $9.1 million ($1.638 million to winner)
- Defending Champion: Nick Taylor (-16)
- 2024 Scoring Average: 68.73 (-1.27)
- Average Sony Open in Hawaii Winning Score Last 5 Years: -19
Waialae Country Club and the Sony Open has been a staple on the PGA Tour since 1965. Unfortunately, there's a good chance 2026 might be the last time we see it on the calendar. New PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has preached the importance of "scarcity" in reference to the schedule, and it's been highly rumored that the 2027 season will not start until after the Super Bowl. That puts the future of the Hawaii events and West Coast Swing up in the air.
If this is indeed the last time we see Waialae on the PGA Tour, it should be a great tournament. There's a little extra buzz surrounding the event since it is now the kickoff to the season after The Sentry at Kapalua was canceled due to drought concerns. While we don't have a $20 million purse this week and a roughly 60-man field, it is cool that basically anyone with full status was able to tee it up in the first event of the season. There is also a standard 36-hole cut which OAD players will likely need to sweat over.
Nick Taylor will return as defending champion after he prevailed in a playoff over Nico Echavarria. J.J. Spaun and Stephan Jaeger each finished one back after a late bogey. Historically players have been able to take advantage of this course that stretches to just over 7,000 yards. It's two par-5s which close each of the nine's are two of the easiest on the entire PGA Tour. That said, gusts are expected to reach 30 mph in each of the four tournament rounds. That will certainly create some extra challenges for this field of 120 players.
Waialae asks players to hit a variety of different shots. Many of the holes feature doglegs that will require players to either fade or draw it to have the best chance of finding the fairway. The greens are quite large given how short the course is, but you don't want to be attacking out of this rough. The wind gusts will only making judging the distance on approach that much harder. Lastly, the players who finish up towards the top of the leaderboard at this event are making a lot of putts. The greens don't feature a ton of undulation and is more down to subtle movements. Players who have prior experience at Waialae are likely to have the advantage.
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Sony Open in Hawaii: One and Done Picks
There's something about the first pick of the season. So much trepidation and that's 100 percent due to having no idea how your golfer is feeling heading into the week. I'm one that generally leans more on track record vs. current form, but even I'm nervous this week because I just want to know how these guys are playing heading into this week. With that said, Taylor seems like a safe play as he's landed inside the top-12 here in his past four starts and he, of course, won this event in 2025. --Greg Vara
I think Berger is likely to get overlooked this week considering how poorly he finished the 2025 season. That said, his start to the year was extremely impressive in just his second full season back from a multi-year layoff due to back injuries. Berger began 2025 with nine top-25s in his first 12 starts. He hit the ball very well all year, but during that strong stretch he also was consistently gaining strokes on and around the greens. I think the offseason will give him some time to get his body and mind right to try and get back to that type of player he showed he can be. Berger has a strong history at Waialae scoring a trio of top-15 finishes in seven career starts. --Ryan Andrade
Conners has a strong track record at Waialae Country Club with four top-15s across seven appearances, but a missed cut last year in which he lost over five shots on the greens should keep him from being a chalky play. He fits the course well as one of the most accurate drivers and precise iron players in the field, which helped lead to a T3 at the event in 2019. We last saw Conners at the Hero World Challenge last month, and while it's not an official Tour event, it's notable that he led the field in SG: Approach. If he can find some form with his putter, he should be in contention over the weekend. --Ryan Pohle
Do I think Henley can win a major this season? No. Do I think he can win a signature event? Probably not (although he did win one last year). Do I think he can win a regular tournament? Absolutely. So in an event without the four guys ahead of him in the world rankings, Henley is the pick. Of course, world ranking isn't the only reason. He has also shown a propensity to play well at Waialae -- 10th last year, fourth the year before and runner-up to Hideki Matsuyama in 2022. On a track demanding accuracy while length is not imperative, Henley is among the best with his driver and long irons. --Len Hochberg
I like the thought of opening the season with one of the player pool's more volatile options in Kim, while the past champion's OAD ownership figures to stay in check despite outright odds as short as 18-1 in the betting market. Kim wrapped up the 2025 campaign with a T4 at The RSM Classic for his sixth consecutive top-25 worldwide result since the FedEx St. Jude Championship, and he ranked fifth on Tour in SG: Tee-to-Green this past season. --Bryce Danielson
Putting is where players separate at Waialae, and Hall brings the full scoring profile. Following his TOUR Championship debut in 2025 (T17), Hall finished 3rd in Strokes Gained: Putting and 10th in Strokes Gained: Around the Green. He also ranked sixth in scrambling and third in Birdie or Better Percentage—two major edges on a course that often lands around 16–18 under. A top Bermudagrass putter this week, Hall is 3-for-3 making the cut at the Sony Open (including a T10 last year), but far enough down the board to give you sleeper upside with leverage outside the chalk. --Lauren Jump
It's tough to ignore Nick Taylor's Waialae track record, but he got his win out of the way last year, so I'm passing on him here. Matsuyama has proven to be a fast starter, and his course history is not all that different from Taylor's. The decision came down to those two, and my tiebreaker came down to events. Just over 30 events will dot the OAD calendar, and I'd rather go with the guy I'm sure is one of the best 30 golfers in the world. --Kevin O'Brien
Sony Open in Hawaii: One and Done Fades
Let me start by stating that it's tough to find someone for this category this early in the season because we have no form to look at. With that in mind, I'm taking a different route and using public perception. The steam that I've been seeing lately is that Horschel is in for a bounce-back season, and while I agree with that, I don't think it will start this week. Horschel's track record here is not good. He's missed the cut in three of eight starts and has just one top-10. --Greg Vara
Rai on paper should be a great fit for Waialae, but this course has given him fits with finishes of of MC-T61-T57. Each time he has lost significant strokes on the greens, which has kind of been the theme of his game recently. Rai has lost strokes on the greens in seven of his last nine starts. The Englishman also had just two top-10 finishes on the PGA Tour in 2025. There will be better places to use Rai down the road. --Ryan Andrade
In a non-signature event, I don't see any reason to use an elite golfer like MacIntyre unless he gives you a really strong reason to, and finishes of T52 and T53 in two trips to Waialae certainly doesn't do it. He played last month at the Hero World Challenge, finishing in the bottom half of the field while losing shots from tee to green. We'll have much better spots to use him when we know his game is in better form. --Ryan Pohle
Not expecting a missed cut or anything that extreme. It's just that Griffin's whole life changed last season with his incredible golf. And then his whole life changed again last month when he got married. So between that and the holidays, Griffin has had a lot going on off the course. Plus he's never had so much as a top-10 at the Sony in three tries (T12 in 2023 is his best). Could he win this week? Sure. But I'm gonna sit this one out on him. --Len Hochberg
Easily one of the best players in this week's field, MacIntyre won the Alfred Dunhill Links Championship during the fall before adding back-to-back top-10s at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship and the DP World Tour Championship. However, there will be plenty of other venues throughout the season that suit his game better than Waialae Country Club, and he's placed outside the top-50 in two prior appearances here. --Bryce Danielson
Scott showed real regression in 2025, failing to crack the top 10 across 18 starts after logging at least three top-5s in each of the prior three seasons. The 45-year-old has long battled the putter, and last year was no different with him sliding to 122nd in SG: Putting—a tough flaw at Waialae, where players move up the leaderboard by converting chances. And it's not just the putter: two other key Waialae indicators went the wrong way for Scott in 2025, who finished 125th in driving accuracy and 155th in scrambling. On a tight, positional course that demands precision and touch, those numbers put Scott in a tough spot as he makes his seventh Sony start and first since 2023 (T21). He's only cracked the top 10 here once dating back to 2014, so in a OAD spot you're burning a big name for limited ceiling and plenty of downside. --Lauren Jump
This has little to do with Griffin's track record at Waialae, which is decent with three cuts made in three appearances, but rather the fact he plays frequently and is a golfer I trust to deliver in more prominent events. I'm saving Griffin for a tournament with a larger purse or a lesser field. --Kevin O'Brien
Don't get burned by late withdrawals. Visit RotoWire's PGA tournament field page for a live-updated summary of the field for the current week and list of players who have dropped out.
