DFS golf is back with a flurry! The Sentry Tournament of Champions provided the lowest score in a PGA Tour event ever. Cameron Smith started off the season by setting records, shooting -34 for the week, the best score to par of any PGA Tour event ever recorded. Now the PGA Tour jumps a few islands over to the Oahu for one of the longest standing PGA Tour events on the circuit, the Sony Open. There will be a bit of overlap in the tournament field this week, as 24 of the 39 participants in last week’s event will island-hop their way over to join the other 108 other golfers for the first full-field event of the year. This First Cut PGA DFS article will go over all of the important data and stats to keep an eye on for fantasy golf lineups this week on DraftKings and FanDuel.
PGA DFS Preview & Fantasy Golf Picks for Sony Open
The PGA Tour has visited Oahu since 1965 and has played the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club since its inception. Title sponsor Sony uses the opportunity to grow the Asian Pacific influence in the event that holds a strong impact in Hawaii. A vacation spot for many, Oahu and the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club will continue the beach and tropical vibes for at least another week.
Waialae Country Club
This week features a drastic change from the mountains of Maui to the flat tropical setting just outside of Honolulu. While Diamond Head Park lays just in the distance, the course features very little elevation change and features plenty of native areas and trees that line the fairways.
Par and Yardage
- Par 70: 7,044 yards
Course Difficulty
- 32/41, 68.921, or slightly under par
Hole Dispersion:
- Par 3’s — 204, 176, 194, 194
- Par 4’s — 480, 423, 422, 467, 450, 454, 341, 440, 477, 430, 400, 417
- Par 5’s — 506, 551
Grass Types & Hazards
- Grass Type: Bermuda throughout
- Average Green: 6,500 square feet
- Water Hazards: 4
- Bunkers: 83
- Rough Length: 2.5 inches
Designer
- Seth Raynor
Designer
- Coore & Crenshaw
Best Stats for DFS Golf Picks This Week
- Off the Tee: Last week’s course, Kapalua, had over 80% fairways hit in regulation. This week, however, drops to under 60%. On the surface that sounds like a drastic change, but the rough is not nearly as penal at Waialae.
- Approach to the Green: Less than 60% fairways hit should lead to greens in regulation being lower, but it is not. Greens are hit just about 70% of the time.
- Around the Green: The green complexes at Waialae are not nearly as tricky as Kapalua’s were last week, but they are not the easiest either. Golfers get up and down about 60% of the time when they miss the green.
- On the Green: Putting here is right on the average of normal PGA Tour events.
Course History at Waialae Country Club
It is not often that a golfer makes every cut with four top-10s at an event since teeing it up, but that is the case for Marc Leishman. One would think that would be the best in the field, but it is not. Charles Howell III has made nearly every cut here for 20 years. Not only has he made a ton of cuts, but he also has five top-10s since 2012. Webb Simpson also gets a nod, with 11 straight made cuts here and three straight top-five finishes. Bryson DeChambeau is also signed up to play this week, a highlight of the field as he makes his first trip back to Waialae since 2019, where he finished 10th.
PGA DFS Golf Sweat Sheet and Fantasy Golf Preview
Slate Preview
The opening slate sold out quickly last week, as DraftKings seemed to underprice the demand quite a bit. However, this week they upped their contests by about 20% year over year and build off a good momentum from last week. The top prize is $200,000 to first.
Sweat Sheet
The ninth and 18th holes account for almost 40% of the scoring, which will make it extra fun for the first cut sweat of the year. There were 32 eagles made on the two holes last year. Other than those two, however, no other hole is noticeably easier than another, with the exception of 16, which was the only other hole outside of nine and 18 to yield more than 80 birdies.
Sony Open PGA DFS Player Preview
While the field on the whole looks relatively strong, with 18 of the world’s top 50 here to compete, it only boasts one of the top 10 players in the world: DeChambeau. After Cameron Smith’s resounding win last week, he will move up quite a bit from his 23rd ranking, but it will likely not be enough to get him into the top 10. For comparison, last year two of the top 10 in the world and 23 of the world’s top 50 competed at this tournament.
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Sony Open Strokes Gained Review
Kevin Na kicked off the year by keeping the ball in play and dominating in the other three facets of the game, outside of off the tee. At Waialae Country Club extreme length is not essential. In fact, strokes gained off the tee had the second-lowest average among golfers that finished in the top 10 last year. Here are some other notes about each of the stats above in relation to golfers that came in the top 10 last year:
Averages:
- Strokes Gained Off the Tee: 0.30
- Strokes Gained on the Approach: 0.68
- Strokes Gained Around the green: 0.24
- Strokes Gained Putting: 0.85
- DFS Points Scored: 109
- DFS Ownership: 9.91%
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