Sport
Sony Open in Hawaii preview: Third time lucky for Chris Kirk?
After last week’s curtain raiser at The Sentry in Maui, the PGA Tour continues its Hawaiian adventure as the players take to the Waialae Country Club, Honolulu for the 59th edition of the Sony Open in Hawaii.
We take a closer look at the key contenders below, with two big-priced selections for you to keep an eye on.
Chris Kirk 25/1
One man who will be on top of the world at the moment is Chris Kirk as he started 2024 with a bang, winning The Sentry by a one-shot margin last week. Kirk has become somewhat of a forgotten man after winning four PGA Tour events between 2011 and 2015, but since his win at the Honda Classic February 2020 he has looked back to his best.
Despite an eye-catching performance, shooting 29-under par over four rounds last week, Kirk as still a backable price at 25/1, especially given the six place each-way terms – Kirk finished T3 or better in three of his first four starts in 2023.
Kirk is certainly one to side with towards the start of the season, recording a third placed finish here last season, following that up with a T3 at the Desert Classic a week later, before winning the Honda Classic in late February.
It was around the green where Kirk set himself apart from the rest in Maui as he ranked first for strokes gained in that area, partnering that with the best overall putting average in the tournament to come out on top.
The one chink in the American’s armour was off the tee, which became evident after he snapped his driver following a wayward tee shot. Nonetheless, he manage to keep his cool to go on and win the tournament, despite ranking 27th off the tee in the 59-strong field.
At 25/1 he can definitely be fancied to go well again and whilst back-to-back victories is a lot harder than it sounds on the PGA Tour, Kirk is always strong at the start of the season and he will be as confident as anyone stepping foot on the Waialae Country Club this week.
Stephan Jaeger 50/1
Stephan Jaeger is the definition of consistency, but the German has just lacked that cutting edge in order to really trouble the tournament leaders and pick up his first PGA Tour win since joining in 2018.
Jaeger has recorded just four top 10 finishes and one top five in his time on the Tour, but when it comes to keeping himself in the competition he is one of the best and he is currently on a run of 17 consecutive made cuts, the fourth best record on the Tour.
The sticking point for Jaeger appears to be his putting, for which he actually loses strokes on the rest of the Tour, ranking 110th for his strokes gained with the flatstick. However, in his final tournament of last year, the RSM Classic, Jaeger recorded a T28 a ranking of 30th in the tournament for his strokes gained on the green – another reason for optimism.
Jaeger is a high-level ball striker and if he can continue he decent form with the putter then he could piece together a good performance to make his odds of 50/1 look outlandish. With his ability to make cuts and stay in the game, each-way terms of six places could be right where Jaeger finds himself come Sunday afternoon.
