The first tournament of the 2023 calendar year was a solid one for favorites, as Jon Rahm shot a -10 on Sunday to surprisingly overtake Collin Morikawa to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions as the +800 betting leader.
The Tour jumps islands this weekend, going from Maui to Honolulu for 2023 Sony Open betting. There are worse things to do than spend the first two weeks of the New Year in Hawaii, which is why a couple of the big names from last week have taken the 40-minute flight to Waialae Country Club and will tee it up again. Will this be another top-heavy event with these favorites?
Tom Kim +1100
Tom Kim has all the way until the end of June to score an unprecedented third win before turning 21, but it wouldn’t be a shocker if he has four or five victories by his next birthday. Kim shot a -22 for a fifth-place finish in Kapalua last week, and that was with a field that included 17 of the top 20 golfers in the world. Kim has now been in the top 25 in all five events he’s played in the 2022/23 season.
Unlike last week at Kapalua, which was wide open, Waialae Country Club is much more cramped and tight, which benefits Kim, who is ranked sixth in driving accuracy this season.
Jordan Spieth +1400
Jordan Spieth might have bulked up over the holiday break, as he’s usually known for his precision and creativity but came out as a bomber over the first two rounds of the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Spieth did trail off a bit over the weekend, but his 314.9 yards/drive over the first 36 holes would have led the tournament.
If Spieth can consistently add some length to his game, he’s going to win some tournaments in 2023, perhaps even at the Sony Open, where at #14, he is the highest-rated OWGR player in the field.
Sungjae Im +1400
Sungjae, Im will do the Hawaii double-dip after finishing 13th last weekend in Maui. That’s actually a disappointing finish for Im, who had been T5 and T8 in his two previous visits to Kapalua. We will give Im a break since that was his first tournament as a married man after tying the knot in December, but now the honeymoon continues in Waialae, where he has gotten progressively worse the last four years with a 16-21-56-MC.
Hideki Matsuyama +1800
There’s decent value on Hideki Matsuyama this week – after all, he is the returning champion in winning last year’s event in a playoff over Russell Henley. Matsuyama was very comfortable here last year, shooting all four rounds 66 or lower, and he now has three straight top-20 finishes here after struggling at Waialae early in his career.
The 2023 calendar year started off with the odds-on favorite picking up the win. Will that trend continue this weekend in Honolulu?
