This article is part of our PGA Tour Stats Review series.
This week the PGA Tour moves to the big island of Hawaii for the first full-field event of the year, the Sony Open. Jimmy Walker, who lost the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in a playoff is your defending champion. Here's our stats preview:
History Lesson
Walker won last year by one over Chis Kirk. In 2013, Russell Henley was a victor by three shots over Tim Clark, and in 2012, Johnson Wagner had a two-shot win over Harrison Frazar, Charles Howell III, Sean O'Hair and Carl Pettersson.
Playoff loss aside, we still recommend Walker, who last week was third in strokes gained-tee to green, 11th in strokes gained-putting and T1 in strokes gained-tee to green.
We also recommend Henley, who tied for third, shooting 65-67 bookend rounds. He ranked eighth in strokes gained-tee to green, second in strokes gained-putting and tied for third in strokes gained-total. Solid stuff.
Who is Playing
Per PGATOUR.com, 24 players made the trip from Kapalua to the Sony Open. They include, besides Walker and Henley, Jason Day and Matt Kuchar. Day especially is a strong pick as he shot an 11-under 62 on Monday to finish one shot out of the playoff. It was the second 62 of the day, the other being shot by Kirk, who is also in the field.
Non-Hyundai notables in the field include Paul Casey, Stewart Cink, John Daly, Luke Donald, Tony Finau, Max Homa, Scott Langley, Vijay Singh, Justin Thomas, Morgan Hoffmann, Webb Simpson and Hudson Swafford.
For any
This week the PGA Tour moves to the big island of Hawaii for the first full-field event of the year, the Sony Open. Jimmy Walker, who lost the Hyundai Tournament of Champions in a playoff is your defending champion. Here's our stats preview:
History Lesson
Walker won last year by one over Chis Kirk. In 2013, Russell Henley was a victor by three shots over Tim Clark, and in 2012, Johnson Wagner had a two-shot win over Harrison Frazar, Charles Howell III, Sean O'Hair and Carl Pettersson.
Playoff loss aside, we still recommend Walker, who last week was third in strokes gained-tee to green, 11th in strokes gained-putting and T1 in strokes gained-tee to green.
We also recommend Henley, who tied for third, shooting 65-67 bookend rounds. He ranked eighth in strokes gained-tee to green, second in strokes gained-putting and tied for third in strokes gained-total. Solid stuff.
Who is Playing
Per PGATOUR.com, 24 players made the trip from Kapalua to the Sony Open. They include, besides Walker and Henley, Jason Day and Matt Kuchar. Day especially is a strong pick as he shot an 11-under 62 on Monday to finish one shot out of the playoff. It was the second 62 of the day, the other being shot by Kirk, who is also in the field.
Non-Hyundai notables in the field include Paul Casey, Stewart Cink, John Daly, Luke Donald, Tony Finau, Max Homa, Scott Langley, Vijay Singh, Justin Thomas, Morgan Hoffmann, Webb Simpson and Hudson Swafford.
For any diehards or those with fall leagues, you know about Finau and Swafford. For those who don't: a quick primer.
Finau was the darling of the rookies in fall, wowing with his drives (307.9 yards) and solid overall play (he's 16th in strokes gained-total). All that has already added up to two top-10s in five starts.
Swafford, meanwhile, had three top-25s in five starts, is 19th in scoring average and 24th in strokes gained-total. He seems like one of those who will get onto a lot of leaderboards and stay there, especially as he become more familiar with each venue.
Both are bright talents who lit it up in the fall knowing they had to get off to a good start. But how they fare of a long layoff -- as we spoke about last week -- is anyone's guess and always a risk. But if you want young fliers to start your season with, those are two mighty choices.
One other player to watch is Langley, who finished third here in 2013. He has a small sample size for the 2014-15 season, but last season he was 31st in sand save percentage and was 32nd in total birdies.
