2024 Sony Open in Hawaii Preview, Picks & Analysis

Si Woo Kim defends his title at the Sony Open as the first full-field tournament of 2024 gets under way at Waialae Country Club.

Kim birdied his final two holes to complete a one-shot win over Hayden Buckley last year as England's Ben Taylor finished in a share of fourth.

Kim fired eight birdies in total across his final round - including five on the front nine - plus two bogeys as he concluded his tournament with a six-under 64 and finished on 18 under par.

The South Korean missed the green with his tee shot at the par-three 17th but then managed to chip in from 28 feet for what proved a crucial birdie. That shot moved Kim level on 17 under with Buckley and he proceeded to birdie the par-five 18th to win by one with Buckley unable to pick up a shot and force a play-off.

The victory was Kim's fourth on the PGA Tour and his first for almost exactly two years.

Before we get to the likely contenders, there will be two big comebacks this week. Gary Woodland returns after having had surgery to remove a brain lesion. The former US Open champion says he has made a full recovery and is looking forward to competing again.

And he is joined by Will Zalatoris, who missed most of 2023 after back surgery. The young American played at the Hero World Challenge in December but struggled, so perhaps we should not be expecting too much too soon from this hugely gifted golfer.

Matt Fitzpatrick, Tyrrell Hatton and Justin Rose will be flying the flag for England. 

(Image Credit: Kevin Diss Photography)

And it really is about time that Hatton got himself back into the winners’ circle on the PGA Tour. It is scarcely credible that his only victory came at the Arnold Palmer Invitational way back in 2020. He also has six wins on the DP World Tour but the most recent of those came at Abu Dhabi in January 2021.

In 127 starts on the PGA Tour, he has finished second three times, third five times and has 15 top five finishes and 32 top 10s. In other words, he finishes in the top 10 in one of four starts. By anybody’s standards, these are impressive statistics.

His best performance in 2023 came when he finished second at the Players Championship. He was also tied fourth at the Arnold Palmer, tied sixth at the Phoenix Open, tied third at both the Canadian Open and Wells Fargo Championship. In all, there were seven top 10s and 13 top 25s. He made 21 starts and missed just one cut.

If you know anything at all about Tyrrell Hatton you will not need me to tell you how incredibly frustrated he will be.  

Waialae Country Club is a course that should suit Fitzpatrick. He is, quite simply, one of the best iron players on the planet and is one of the best putters on the PGA Tour. He has also worked hard on his physique and now regularly drives the ball beyond 300 yards.

He won the RBC Heritage last year and also enjoyed a tied second at the BMW Championship, six top 10s and 11 top 25s, finishing 2023 in ninth place in the FedEx Cup standings and earning $8.15m in prize money. 

Tournament Winners:

It was won in 2017 by Justin Thomas, in 2018 by Patton Kizzire, in 2019 by Matt Kuchar, in 2020 by Cameron Smith, in 2021 by Kevin Na, in 2022 by Hideki Matsuyama and last year by Si Woo Kim.

The Course:

Waialae is a par 70 measuring just 7,044 yards. Its only real defence is the wind, and you can expect to see some very low scoring. When Justin Thomas won here in 2017 he opened with a 59 and won with a 72-hole score of 253, 27 under par.

To Win:

Tyrrell Hatton. Could do with winning again

Each Way:

Matthew Fitzpatrick. As consistent as they come

Five to Follow:

Tyrrell Hatton. American fans love him

Matthew Fitzpatrick. Should do well here

Camilo Villegas. A man reborn

Russell Henley. Genius around the greens

Gary Woodland. Making an emotional return after brain surgery