The first full-field event of the 2025 PGA Tour season takes place this week as players travel to Waialae Country Club for the 2025 Sony Open. Headlined by a crop of competitors making the short trip from Kapalua to Honolulu, the Sony Open field will feature a wide array of players ranging from recent winners to PGA Tour rookies.
Headlining the action is the man who headlined the leaderboard last week: Hideki Matsuyama. Becoming the seventh player in PGA Tour history to win both tournaments in Hawaii, Matsuyama now seeks another share of history by winning the two tournaments in the same season. If he were to pull off the feat, the Olympic bronze medalist would join Justin Thomas (2017) and Ernie Els (2003) as the only to do so.
Matsuyama is just one of 35 players who played in last week's Sentry and is in the field this week. Former Sony Open winners such as Russell Henley and Si Woo Kim look for their first wins in quite awhile with Corey Conners, Keegan Bradley, Maverick McNealy and Byeong Hun An aiming to right recent close calls at this golf course.
Tom Kim makes his season debut following a strong offseason that included contention runs on the DP World Tour and the Hero World Challenge. He is joined by Sahith Theegala, Daniel Berger, Denny McCarthy, Ben Griffin and Brian Harman as notable players to go through last season without a victory.
Meanwhile, Billy Horschel, Taylor Pendrith, Austin Eckroat, J.T. Poston, Davis Thompson, Harry Hall, Chris Kirk and Cameron Davis all raised trophies in 2024 and hope to raise another quickly in 2025.
2025 Sony Open schedule
Dates: Jan. 9-12
Location: Waialae Country Club — Honolulu, Hawaii
Par: 70 | Yardage: 7,044
Purse: $8,700,000
2025 Sony Open field, odds
- Hideki Matsuyama (9-1): He was flawless en route to setting all kinds of scoring records at the Sentry thanks in large part to a brand-new putter in the golf bag. Employing a new wand at Kapalua, Matsuyama will hope that level of comfort on the greens travels to Waialae where he has struggled with the putter in hand. Playing in this tournament 11 times in his career, Matsuyama has gained significant strokes on the greens just once -- the 2022 tournament which he won in a playoff over Henley.
- Corey Conners (14-1): All signs point to Conners claiming his third PGA Tour title this week as a convergence of good form and great course history are in his corner. Coming off a top-five finish at the Sentry where he led the field in strokes gained putting, the Canadian now comes to a golf course where his reliable tee-to-green play can thrive. Conners has made all six cuts in his six Sony Open appearances and notched four top-12 finishes in the process.
- Tom Kim (20-1): Kim added some sneaky speed towards the end of last season, and while it may not matter this week, it is something to monitor over the course of 2025. After a year that was riddled with surprising inconsistencies on the greens, Kim found something with the putter at the Presidents Cup and has carried it over to stroke-play events. He arrived at this tournament in 2023 as the heavy favorite only to miss the cut.
- Russell Henley (20-1): Henley finished in the middle of the pack at the Sentry; he was unable to go really low at Kapalua and instead settled for four rounds of steady, under-par golf. Waialae CC will be a much better fit for his game as his accuracy off the tee and pinpoint iron play will allow him to separate from the field as he has done in the past. Collecting two top-five finishes in the last three years, Henley has a chance to do even better this year as he comes in as good a putter since his rookie year when he won the golf tournament.
- Keegan Bradley (25-1)
- Maverick McNealy (25-1)
- Byeong Hun An (28-1)
- Robert MacIntyre (30-1)
- Si Woo Kim (30-1)
- Luke Clanton (30-1): If Nick Dunlap can win as an amateur on the PGA Tour, why can't Clanton? The Florida State Seminole played in eight PGA Tour events in 2024 and notched top-10 finishes in half of them. The most recent came at the RSM Classic where Clanton had a chance to post the clubhouse lead on the 72nd hole but failed to get up-and-down from the greenside bunker. He has all the game in the world, but it will be interesting to see how it takes to the tight corridors of Walalae CC.
2025 Sony Open expert picks
| Winner (25-1): The captain is playing some quality golf, and a win appears imminent. Bradley fell in a playoff to Grayson Murray at last year's tournament after failing to birdie the par-5 18th in regulation. He called the defeat one of the toughest of his career, and he comes into this year's tournament as motivated as ever. Bradley has notched three top-12 finishes in his last five Sony Open appearances. | |
| Contender (45-1): Thompson will be slated in this spot many times this year because his upside is undeniable. After opening the Sentry with a 78, the John Deere Classic winner battled back with rounds of 64-68-67 to slowly push his name up the leaderboard. He hasn't been able to figure out Waialae CC in two prior trips, but he has never arrived this complete of a player. | |
| Sleeper (65-1): Comeback Player of the Year may no longer be an award on the PGA Tour, but you can pencil in Berger as my favorite for it regardless. The former U.S. Ryder Cup team member secured his full-time playing privileges this past fall thanks to a runner-up result at the RSM Classic and two other top-20 finishes. He makes his first start in Honolulu since 2021 when he collected his third top-15 finishes in six attempts. The putter has yet to heat up during Berger's comeback journey, but if it does, watch out. | |
Who will win the Sony Open, and which longshots will stun the golfing world? Visit SportsLine now to see the projected leaderboard and best bets, all from the model that's nailed 13 golf majors and is up more than $9,500 since June 2020.
