Sony Open

Waialae Country Club, Honolulu, Hawaii (7,044 yards, Par 70)

Today through Sunday

TV Coverage:

Golf Channel:

Today 6 PM-9:30 PM CT/7 PM-10:30 PM ET.

Friday: 10 AM-1:30 PM CT/11 AM-2:30 PM ET; 6 PM-9:30 PM CT/7 PM-10:30 PM ET.

Saturday: 10 AM-1:30 PM CT/11 AM-2:30 PM ET; 6 PM-9:30 PM CT/7 PM-10:30 PM ET.

Sunday: 10 AM-4:30 PM CT/11 AM-5:30 PM ET; 5 PM-9 PM CT/6 PM-10 PM ET.

Two time Defending champion: Jimmy Walker, shot -23 last year and won by 9 shots over Scott Piercy.

Contenders:

Jimmy Walker

Obviously loves this track. Birdied seven of his last 11 holes last year to run away with the tournament. Finished tied 10th last week at the Hyunda Tournament of Champions in Maui. The 36 year old born in Oklahoma City, OK by way of Baylor University will be right there on Sunday.

Matt Kuchar

Finished tied 3rd here last year. Really likes playing in Hawaii. From what I’ve heard, he’d really just like to settle down and live there. Probably spends too much time in Hawaii. The 37 year old from Winter Park, Florida, by way of Georgia Tech, is straight off the tee, which is required at Waialae, and is an excellent putter. Not in Spieth’s category, but who is.

Brandt Sneedeker

Tied 3rd last week at Hyundai. Shot 67-72-65- 67 to finish -21 tied for third with Brooks Koepka, who is not playing this week. Spieth ran away with it at -30, but he and Patrick Reed, who was second at -22, aren’t playing this week either. The 35 year old from Nashvegas by way of Vanderbilt University will definitely be in the hunt with his accurate driving and outstanding putter. He’s the closest player on the tour to Spieth in putting ability. No comments please, Pablo. This is not a homer pick, I promise.

Kevin Kisner

Won the RSM Classic at Hilton Head in November. Finished 9th at Hyundai last week. This 31 year old former Georgia Bulldog from Aiken, South Carolina, is making his mark and should win again this year on the tour, possibly multiple times, and has the clutchness to win a major.

Winner

Like this 22 year old from Louisville, Kentucky by way of the University of Alabama to get it done again in the 2015-16 season.  He won the CIMB Classic in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia in late October-early November (tournament was Oct. 29-Nov. 1st, 2015), finished tied 21st last week at the Hyundai in the 32 man field, but shot 69-69 on the last two days, which was -8 on the Par 73 Plantation Course in Maui. He finished tied for 6th here last year and shot 61 on the second day. He’s an excellent driver of the golf ball. He’s a 300-310 distance guy consistently and hits it farther many times, and he’s very accurate off the tee. Very good putter as well. He’ll need to be good on greens in regulation category because Walker won it last year with the best greens in regulation percentage.

Yon need to make birdies on this course and the fairways are tightly guarded by trees and pretty thick rough. Going with the young man from Tuscaloosa as the Crimson Tide puts another notch in their belts this week. The basketball team beat previously undefeated South Carolina last night, 73-50, with the national champion football team in attendance. Sophomore small forward Riley Norris posted 27 points on 8-of-11 from trifecta. That’s awesome.

O.J. Howard, Kenyan Drake and many others on Alabama and Clemson really moved up the draft boards with their performances Monday Night. Sophomore quarterback DeShaun Watson was awesome for as well for the Tigers. He’s got one more year left at least and Clemson looks pretty stout next season with 17 starters scheduled to return. Alabama needs to do some reloading, but they have the reinforcements in place if quarterback can get settled with Blake Barnett as the leading candidate; the five-star redshirt freshman from Corona, California, a city of 154,000 not far from LA in Southern California.

That game was one for the ages. Justin keeps the Tide’s karma going.

Justin Thomas