Day: January 7, 2017

Sony Open in HawaiiSony Open in Hawaii

• COURSE: Waialae Country Club, 7,044 yards, par 70. Now in its 52nd year as a PGA TOUR host, Waialae’s staying power is exceeded by just three other venues. Opened in 1927 on land leased from the Bernice Bishop estate, Waialae served in partnership with the Royal Hawaiian hotel as a draw to help attract travel to the islands. Designers Seth Raynor and Charles Banks borrowed liberally from signature ideas at other courses – the seventh green is bisected by a deep “biarritz” gully; No.17 has a “redan” green that slopes sharply back-to-front and right-to-left. Also, No.1 introduces features found at the famed “Road Hole” of St. Andrews’ Old Course. • FEDEXCUP: Winner receives 500 points. • CHARITY: Friends of Hawaii Charities, which provides funding for more than 350 nonprofit endeavors that benefit Hawaii’s women, youth and the needy. With the help of The Harry & Jeanette Weinberg Foundation, the event’s charity partner, the Sony Open has raised more than $16 million over the past 18 years. • FIELD WATCH: World No.5 Jordan Spieth, ending a two-year absence from Waialae, and Olympic champion Justin Rose head up a group of eight entrants among the top 25 in the rankings. … Spieth, two-time Sony winner Jimmy Walker and FedExCup points leader Hideki Matsuyama are among 22 players slated to hop a flight from this week’s SBS Tournament of Champions to play both ends of the Hawaiian double. … Former Sony champions Jerry Kelly (2002) and Vijay Singh (2005) are among a trio of 50-and-over players entered. Fred Funk, now 60, rounds out the group. … Sponsor exemptions include a trio of Japan Tour players currently ranked among the world’s top 105 – No.55 Hideto Tanihara, No.96 Satoshi Kodaira and No.104 Daisuke Kataoka. • 72-HOLE RECORD: 256, Russell Henley (2013). • 18-HOLE RECORD: 61, David Toms (3rd round, 2006), Justin Thomas (2nd round, 2015). Note: Davis Love III carded a 60 in 1994, before course renovations in 1999. • LAST YEAR: Fabian Gomez parlayed seven consecutive birdies into an 8-under-par 62 on the final day, forcing a playoff against Brandt Snedeker that the Argentine won on the second extra hole. Superb ballstriking allowed Gomez to make up a four-shot deficit, starting his birdie run at No.6 to eventually push to the front. No birdie in the streak came from any longer than 12 feet. A pair of bogeys let Snedeker and Zac Blair back in the game, but he closed with a 10-foot birdie at No.17 and a 20-footer at the par-5 finisher. Snedeker used a closing birdie for a 66 that forced a playoff, but missed a chance to win when his 12-foot birdie try went wide at the first extra hole. Gomez finally sealed his second PGA TOUR win at the next hole with his 11th birdie of the day. • STORYLINES: Though Walker fell short in last year’s quest for a three-peat at Waialae, finishing 13th, a third title in four years would not be a surprise. Not only was he victorious in 2014 and ’15, he has an affinity for Hawaii – he arrived at Kapalua having shot a combined 91-under par in the state over the past three seasons. … Matsuyama, no lower than second in his last five starts worldwide in 2016, can become the fourth Asian to capture the Sony Open. He’d join Japan’s Isao Aoki (1983), Fiji’s Singh (2005) and Korean K.J. Choi (2008). … Since the Tournament of Champions moved to Hawaii in 1999, 12 Sony Open winners have done it after playing Kapalua the previous week. Ernie Els is the only one to sweep both events, doing so in 2003.  • SHORT CHIPS: Fall winners Cody Gribble (Sanderson Farms) and Mackenzie Hughes (RSM Classic) are among 13 rookies eyeing their first Sony Open start. Before the wraparound schedule was set into place, Waialae served as the coming-out party for rookies. … Peter Malnati and Spencer Levin resume their streaks of starting every event for which they’ve been eligible this season. Gribble, Hughes and Brian Stuard also are set for their tour-high seventh starts. • TELEVISION: Thursday-Saturday, 7-10:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Sunday, 6-10 p.m.(GC). • PGA TOUR LIVE: None. • RADIO: Thursday-Saturday, 5-11 p.m. ET. Sunday, 5-10 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com).

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