False alarm gives TOUR players in Hawaii a scare

The PGA TOUR remains in Hawaii for the second consecutive week, as Waialae Country Club hosts the Sony Open in Hawaii. The course will play as a par 70 that measures 7,044 yards and features Bermuda greens. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $600K Pitch + Putt [$200K to 1st] STRATEGY After last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions no-cut event, we are back to a standard full-field TOUR event with a 36-hole cut. Waialae is on the opposite end of the spectrum compared to Kapalua – last week was a driver’s paradise whereas this week it will be all about hitting fairways and being precise with your irons. There are only two par 5s at Waialae, but both should be reachable in two for the majority of the field. Speaking of the field, it’s another good one, featuring the likes of defending champion Hideki Matsuyama and fellow Presidents Cup reps Jordan Spieth, Sungjae Im and Tom Kim will all be teeing it up this week. GOLFERS TO CONSIDER Sungjae Im ($10,300) Im opened his 2023 with a strong showing at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, finishing in a tie for 13th. He made 24 birdies compared to just six bogeys (and one double), which has become quite the theme for the two-time PGA TOUR winner. Im closed out 2022 on absolute fire, posting five top-10 finishes (including three runner-up finishes) across his last nine starts. In that time frame, Im ranks second in this field in total birdies made, fifth in eagles and 13th in bogey avoidance. If you take a broader view, he ranks No. 1 in this field in SG: Tee-to-Green, SG: Off-the-Tee and SG: Total. He’s been absolutely locked in for some time now and is the best player in this field, despite being the second highest-priced golfer on DraftKings this week. At just $10,300, Im should be the first guy you lock into your lineups in both cash games and GPPs alike, as no one in this field has the floor/ceiling combination that he offers. Cameron Davis ($8,500) Davis used to be a beacon of inconsistency but turned that around last year as he missed just five cuts across his 24 PGA TOUR starts. The Aussie ranks seventh in this field in SG: Total across his past 48 rounds, thanks to an incredibly well-rounded game (13th in SG: Tee-To-Green, 15th in SG: Ball Striking and 31st in SG: Putting). After missing the cut in his first career start at Waialae, Davis has now made three straight weekends, while posting a T9 and two additional top-31 finishes in that time frame. It’s no surprise that he’s had success at this event, being that it usually turns out to be a birdie fest. Davis ranked 13th on the TOUR in birdie or better percentage last season and ranks No. 1 in this field in total birdies across his past 48 rounds. His $8,500 price tag is really nice value when you consider some of the options priced around him. Keith Mitchell ($8,300) Mitchell had a great season in 2021-22, posting five top-five finishes, including a T7 at this very event. He’s played Waialae five times now, finishing T25 or better in four of those starts. Out of everyone in this field who has made at least three starts at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Mitchell ranks sixth in SG: Tee-to-Green per round at 1.23 at Waialae. Over his past 48 rounds in this field, Mitchell ranks No. 2 in this field in SG: Off-the-Tee and 17th in SG: Total as well. Mitchell should be living in the fairway this week, giving him quality looks at birdie on most holes. He also crushed par 5s last season, ranking 12th on the TOUR in par 5 scoring average, which will be important this week as you’ll absolutely need to take advantage of both par 5s on the course. In addition to all of this, Mitchell also is a much better putter on Bermuda greens, which is what is featured. His lone TOUR victory, at The Honda Classic in 2019, was a par 70 which also featured Bermuda. All the contextual factors are in place for Mitchell to crush this week, and he’s simply too cheap for his talent level at just $8,300 on DraftKings. Set your DraftKings fantasy golf lineups here: PGA TOUR $600K Pitch + Putt [$200K to 1st] Put your knowledge to the test. Sign up for DraftKings and experience the game inside the game. I am a promoter at DraftKings and am also an avid fan and customer (my username is Lan1228) and may sometimes play on my personal account in the games that I offer advice on. Although I have expressed my personal view on the games and strategies above, they do not necessarily reflect the view(s) of DraftKings and do not constitute a representation that any particular strategy will guarantee success. All customers should use their own skill and judgment in building lineups. I may also deploy different players and strategies than what I recommend above. I am not an employee of DraftKings and do not have access to any non-public information.

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HONOLULU — Three shots behind with six holes to play, Kevin Na birdied three straight holes and finished with an up-and-down birdie from behind the 18th green for a 5-under 65 and a one-shot victory in the Sony Open in Hawaii. RELATED: Leaderboard | Winner’s Bag: Kevin Na, Sony Open in Hawaii Na won for the fifth time in his PGA TOUR career, and this one looked unlikely when he three-putted for bogey on the 12th hole at a time where there was no room for mistakes. He answered with birdie putts of 15, 10 and 6 feet, and the winning shot was out of the right rough on the par-5 closing hole at Waialae and ran just over the back of the green. He chipped to tap-in range for his last birdie. Na finished one shot ahead of Joaquin Niemann and Chris Kirk, and only one of them got a consolation prize. Niemann chipped in for birdie from 55 feet on the par-3 17th and got up-and-down with a long bunker shot on the 18th hole for a 66. Even so, he was runner-up for the second straight week in Hawaii. The 22-year-old from Chile was 45-under par in two events without a trophy to show for it. Kirk closed with his fourth straight round of 65 — that wasn’t enough to win on a soft Waialae with no wind — and his tough pitch from below the 18th for birdie proved to be massive. Kirk stepped away from golf in May 2019 citing alcoholism and depression. He was given a medical extension to make up for lost time, and this was the final event for him to regain full status. Needing nearly 150 FedExCup points at the Sony Open in Hawaii, his tie for second was worth 245 points. As for Brendan Steele, it was another year of disappointment in paradise, this one more of a slow leak. Steele last year had a two-shot lead with two to play and wound up losing in a playoff. This time, he made an 18-foot eagle putt on the ninth hole to take a three-shot lead into the back nine. He three-putted the easy 10th hole from nearly 80 feet, and his game was so tentative the rest of the way that he didn’t have a birdie chance inside 30 feet until the 17th hole. That was from 10 feet to tie for the lead, and he missed that. Steele also failed to birdie the 18th and closed with a 69. Na won for the fourth consecutive season, and he attributed the late surge to being happy at home with his wife and two children. He looked comfortable even when the Sony Open in Hawaii appeared to be slipping away. Once he made the 15-footer on the 13th hole, he started walking them in. “I knew there was a lot of birdie holes left,” Na said. “I was having fun out there.” Webb Simpson matched the low score of the final round with a 64 and tied for fourth along with Steele and Marc Leishman, who shot 30 on the back nine. Na finished at 21-under 259 and is assured of returning to Hawaii for two weeks next year, starting with the Sentry Tournament of Champions at Kapalua. That course can be too big for him. Waialae proved to be a perfect fit.

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