After a thrilling first week in Maui, the PGA Tour heads to Honolulu for the Sony Open, the first full-field event on the 2025 schedule. Waialae Country Club, designed by the great Seth Raynor, has been a staple on the PGA Tour for decades, and 144 of the PGA Tour’s best players make up an intriguing field this week. Hideki Matsuyama will look to back up his record-breaking performance at the Sentry, and he will be joined by the likes of Russell Henley, Corey Conners, Keegan Bradley, Byeong Hun An and Tom Kim, among others. This will also be our first look this year at a new wave of PGA Tour talent, including Luke Clanton and Michael Thorbjornsen, who have already made some serious noise in the back half of 2024.

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Though the scoring is not as extreme at Kapalua, Waialae generally ranks as one of the shortest and easiest courses on the PGA Tour. Yet windier conditions this week should yield more challenging scoring conditions and call for a well-rounded tee-to-green game. As is always the case at Waialae, middle iron play will still be the name of the game. Let’s dive into the slate.

Tracy Wilcox

We had Keegan Bradley at this event last year, which unfortunately resulted in a playoff loss. Yet I’m bullish that the newly invigorated Ryder Cup captain can enact his revenge on Waialae. Bradley remains one of the best total drivers and middle iron players in this field—and an ideal fit for the Seth Raynor design.

Fade: Robert MacIntyre, $9,300:

Robert MacIntyre looked solid last week at the Sentry, but I still have concerns about his middle-iron play holding up at Waialae, as he ranks below field average in all of the key proximity buckets this week. This is a hefty price to pay for a player that possesses such tee-to-green volatility.

$8,000 range Play: Luke Clanton, $8,400:

Luke Clanton is the real deal, and we still have the opportunity to be early on a player that may only be a few weeks away from being routinely priced at the top of the slate. Clanton has already recorded top-five finishes at both the Wyndham Championship and RSM Classic, two very similar golf courses to Waialae, and his elite total driving and middle iron play should shine here as well.

Fade: Davis Thompson, $8,500:

Davis Thompson recorded an up-and-down performance at the Sentry, and he has failed to finish inside the top-50 in both of his performances at the Sony Open. Until I see a little more consistency out of the former University of Georgia standout, I’m willing to pass at this number.

Sam Navarro

I’m expecting a solid bounce-back season and return to form from Daniel Berger. His game really started to come together over the back half of 2024, culminating in a runner-up finish at the RSM Classic where he gained strokes in all four major categories. Berger already has three top-15 finishes at Waialae and has experienced loads of success on other similar positional golf courses.

Fade: Mackenzie Hughes, $7,800:

Mackenzie Hughes remains one of the weaker ball-strikers in this field, and he will always need to rely on elite putting to find his way to the top of the leaderboard. There are far more reliable total drivers and middle iron players in this price range who I would rather rely on in windy conditions.

Flier: Adam Svensson, $7,200:

Adam Svensson was a key piece in my winning lineup at the 2022 Sony Open Pat Mayo DraftKings contest, and I’m going right back to well this week in hopes that the Canadian can find more magic at Waialae. Svensson is a great total driver of the ball, and he has hit irons tremendously well in all four of his appearances at the Seth Raynor design. $7,200 is a steal.

$6,000 range Play: Patton Kizzire, $6,900:

Maddie Meyer

While Patton Kizzire’s middling finish last week at the Sentry was nothing to write home about, Waialae should be a very comfortable spot for the recent Fortinet Championship winner. Kizzire won this event back in 2018, but he also recorded a 13th-place finish last year, and something about these green complexes just seem to click with the three-time PGA Tour winner.

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Andy Lack is a PGA Tour writer and podcaster from New York City who now resides in Los Angeles. Andy is the founder and CEO of Inside Sports Network, a website devoted to the predictive quality of advanced analytics and golf course architecture. He came to Golf Digest’s betting panel after previously writing for Run Pure Sports, RickRunGood.com, the Score and GolfWRX. In his free time, Andy can likely be found on a golf course. Follow him on Twitter: @adplacksports

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com