Power Rankings: Sony Open in Hawaii

The Sentry officially launched the 2025 PGA TOUR season over on Maui, but it can be argued that the rubber doesn’t truly meet the road until balls are in the air at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

The tail of the tandem on the circuit’s Opening Drive will be contested at Waialae Country Club on Oahu. Unlike last week’s cozy, no-cut competition consisting of just 59 golfers, a customary gathering of 144 is poised for the first full-field tournament of the season, replete with a 36-hole cut.

Details of what’s expected inside the ropes and from overhead, a notable disruption in a trend and how the Sony Open guarantees to reward are explained below.

Waialae is the site of Grayson Murray’s second of two PGA TOUR titles. It was here just a year ago when he emerged for victory from a three-way playoff with Byeong Hun An and Keegan Bradley. When Murray died in May, his parents, Eric and Terry, acknowledged that he “rests peacefully now.”

On the only hole required in the playoff, Murray poured in a long-range birdie on the par-5 18th. While wholly unexpected from almost 40 feet, that he converted a birdie serves as the best of examples for everyone chasing this week’s trophy presentation. Hit greens and sink putts.

Waialae remains unchanged for the returning participants. They can plan on the potential of 3½-inch rough awaiting the most misguided of drives and the Bermudagrass greens reaching 12 feet on the Stimpmeter. Murray paced his field in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green while slotting second in SG: Off-the-Tee and T2 in greens in regulation. He also co-led in Par-5 Scoring (at 3.88 with an eagle and seven birdies) on the stock par 70 that tips at 7,044 yards, and he squared only four bogeys all week. He played his last 47 holes in bogey-free 12-under. Variations of that aggregate performance will challenge again this week.

Overall, Waialae averaged 68.820 with a sub-68 final round. You may recall how the open qualifier was ravaged with bad weather. It’s unlikely to be replicated this week, but scoring figures to be higher with winds that will greet the field moderately on Thursday before cranking into a sincerely challenging push by Sunday’s finale. The constant will be their direction. From the northeast, they will be trade winds, so Waialae won’t play especially funky otherwise. Daytimes highs will hit 80 degrees and passing rain showers can’t be ruled out. It’s Hawaii after all.

As it concerns what almost was a rule that the winner at Waialae had played the previous week at Kapalua, something funny has happened … or still is happening.

Eight of the last 11 winners of the Sony Open began the calendar year at The Sentry, but the last two did not. Before Murray last year, Si Woo Kim took the 2023 title. What’s excessively odd is that that reversal of the strong trend aligns with the expansion of the fields at Kapalua. This is the third straight year that The Sentry opened its arms to all golfers inside the top 50 of the previous season’s FedExCup, many of whom are non-winners.

As of midday Monday, 35 in the field at Waialae made the short trip west to Oahu after pegging it for 72 holes on Maui. They are led by The Sentry champion Hideki Matsuyama, who, and ironically, is the last champion at Waialae (in 2022) before fields expanded at Kapalua.

Of course, the Sony Open also serves as the debut in earnest for the PGA TOUR class of 2025. Two golfers who gained access from the DP World Tour and all Korn Ferry Tour grads who committed are competing for the first time as fellow PGA TOUR members. Many will be trying to join 2013 champion Russell Henley as the only first-time winners of the tournament in the FedExCup era (2007-present). Henley also is the only champion to prevail in his tournament debut since Bruce Lietzke turned the trick in 1977. This is the 60th edition of the tournament; all have been held at Waialae.

If the winner of the Sony Open isn’t already exempt into all of the remaining seven Signature Events, he will be via this victory. He’ll also begin the first Aon Swing 5 of 2025 at the top of the short-term standings for entry into the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am. Combined FedExCup points from the Sony Open, The American Express and the Farmers Insurance Open will determine the five qualifiers for the second Signature Event of the season.

Although there isn’t an open qualifier for The American Express next week, top 10s at Waialae will qualify for entry at PGA WEST.

ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE

PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton previews and recaps every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled.

MONDAY: Power Rankings
TUESDAY*: Fantasy Insider
SUNDAY: Payouts and Points, Qualifiers

* Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf presented by PGA TOUR Superstore, which also publishes on Tuesday.