2014 Sony Open in Hawaii Notes

2014 Sony Open in Hawaii

• Dates: January 9-12, 2014
• Where: Waialae Country Club; Honolulu, Hawaii
• Par/Yards: 35-35—70/7,044
• Field: 144
• Format: 72-hole stroke play
• Defending Champion: Russell Henley
• Purse: $5,600,000; Winner’s Share: $1,008,00

  Note: All four rounds will be played in threesomes off Nos. 1 and 10

  Structural changes to the PGA TOUR

• The Sony Open in Hawaii marks the eighth official event of the PGA TOUR’s new wraparound 2013-14 season schedule. In the fall of 2013, four tournaments that formerly made up the Fall Series along with two events being played as official events for the first time were contested, beginning with the Frys.com Open in October and concluding with the OHL Classic at Mayakoba in November. For the first time, these six events awarded full FedExCup points.
• With the addition of six fall events, year eight of the FedExCup consists of 45 events in 43 weeks, including the four FedExCup Playoff events. Only two weeks will have multiple events (WGC-Cadillac Championship/Puerto Rico Open presented by seepuertorico.com and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational/Reno-Tahoe Open). The FedExCup Playoffs once again feature four events and concludes in September of 2014 with the TOUR Championship by Coca-Cola and the crowning of the FedExCup champion.
• Last fall, for the first time, 50 players earned their PGA TOUR cards for the 2013-14 season through the Web.com Tour Regular Season money list and the inaugural Web.com Tour Finals.

  2013 Sony Open in Hawaii Recap

• Russell Henley won the 2013 Sony Open in Hawaii in his PGA TOUR debut with a record-setting 24-under 256 total, closing with an impressive five consecutive birdies to top Tim Clark by three strokes

  Russell Henley set to defend his Sony Open title

• Russell Henley won the 2013 Sony Open in Hawaii for his first PGA TOUR victory at the age 23 years, 9 months and 1 day in just his third official start. He had two as an amateur.
• Henley is seeking to become just the fourth player to successfully defend a title at the Sony Open in Hawaii – Hubert Green (1978-79), Corey Pavin (1986-87) and Ernie Els (2003-04).
• With his win, Henley became the first rookie to win in his first start as an official member of the PGA TOUR since Garrett Willis at the 2001 Touchstone Energy Tucson Open.
• Henley became the ninth player to make the Sony Open his first PGA TOUR win. Others who won their first event here were Ted Makalena (1966), Grier Jones (1972), John Schlee (1973), Gary Groh (1975), Isao Aoki (1983), David Ishii (1990), John Morse (1995) and Jerry Kelly (2002).
• Henley’s 72-hole numerical total of 256 broke the tournament scoring mark of 260 set by John Huston in 1998 and matched by Brad Faxon in 2001.
• Henley’s 256 total was the third-lowest 72-hole total (tie with Mark Calcavecchia/2001 Phoenix Open) in PGA TOUR history. Tommy Armour III posted a total of 254 (26-under) at the 2003 Valero Texas Open, while Steve Stricker posted a 255 at the 2009 Bob Hope Classic.
• Henley became the seventh (of eight) former University of Georgia players to win a PGA TOUR event, joining Chip Beck, Bill Kratzert, Bubba Watson, Chris Kirk, Tim Simpson, and Ryuji Imada. He was joined later by Harris English.
• Earlier in the week at the Sony Open in Hawaii, Henley set a Sony Open in Hawaii record for the best first 36-hole score in event history at 14-under-par 126. It broke the record of 12-under-par 128 set in 1994 by Davis Love III and matched by John Huston (1998), Paul Azinger (2000), Brad Faxon (2001) and John Cook (2002).
• Henley became the fifth consecutive winner of the Sony Open to post four straight rounds in the 60s.
• Prior to Henley in 2013, the last player to win the Sony Open in his first attempt was Bruce Lietzke (1977).
• The Rookies
  • Ten former Rookies of the Year are in the Sony Open field: John Daly (1991), Vijay Singh (1993), Woody Austin (1995), Stewart Cink (1997), Charles Howell III (2001), Jonathan Byrd (2002), Sean O’Hair (2005), Marc Leishman, (2009), John Huh (2012) and Jordan Spieth (2013).
  • Reigning PGA TOUR Rookie of the Year Jordan Spieth makes his Sony Open in Hawaii debut after becoming the youngest player to win on TOUR since 1931 last year at the John Deere Classic.
  • Eleven of the 13 rookies are currently in the Sony Open field, including Kevin Foley, Brice Garnett, Chesson Hadley, Bronson La’Cassie, Andrew Loupe, Peter Malnati, Wes Roach, Hudson Swafford, Kevin Tway, Will Wilcox and Tyrone Van Aswegen.

    A closer look at the field

  • 2013 major champions Adam Scott (Masters Tournament) and Jason Dufner (PGA Championship).
  • Nine players who have won each of the PGA TOUR’s Hawaii events at least once, including last week’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions winner Zach Johnson. The others: Jim Furyk (1996 Sony; 2001 Tournament of Champions), Jack Nicklaus (1974 Sony; 1963-64, 1971, 1973, 1977 Tournament of Champions); Lee Trevino (1968 Sony; 1981 Tournament of Champions); Lanny Wadkins (1988, 1991 Sony Open, 1982-83 Tournament of Champions); Paul Azinger (1991 Sony; 1990 Tournament of Champions); Mark O’Meara (1985 Sony; 1996 Tournament of Champions); Ernie Els (2003-04 Sony; 2003 Tournament of Champions); Vijay Singh (2005 Sony; 2007 Tournament of Champions).
  • Three players with multiple wins in the 2013 calendar year:o Matt Kuchar (WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship and the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide): Adam Scott (Masters Tournament and The Barclays); and Harris English (FedEx St. Jude Classic and OHL Classic at Mayakoba).
  • Winners from the 2013 season: Russell Henley, Brian Gay, Matt Kuchar, Michael Thompson, Scott Brown, D.A. Points, Adam Scott, Derek Ernst, Sang-Moon Bae, Boo Weekley, Harris English, Ken Duke, Jordan Spieth, Jason Dufner, Zach Johnson.
  • Winners from the first seven events of the 2013-14 season: Jimmy Walker, Chris Kirk, Harris English, Zach Johnson.
  • Players in the field with six or more PGA TOUR wins: Vijay Singh (34 wins), Kenny Perry (14), Justin Leonard (12 wins), Zach Johnson (11), Adam Scott (10), Stuart Appleby (9), K.J. Choi (8), Fred Funk (8), Mike Weir (8), Retief Goosen (7), Stewart Cink (6), Matt Kuchar (6) and Rory Sabbatini (6).
  • Past champions in the field: Russell Henley (2013), Johnson Wagner (2012), Mark Wilson (2011), Ryan Palmer (2010), Zach Johnson (2009), K.J. Choi (2008), Paul Goydos (2007), Vijay Singh (2005), Jerry Kelly (2002).
  • Four players from top 7 in the 2013 FedExCup standings: Adam Scott (4), Zach Johnson (5), Matt Kuchar (6) and Jordan Spieth (7).
  • Six players in the top 25 in the Official World Golf Rankings: Adam Scott (2), Matt Kuchar (7), Zach Johnson (9), Jason Dufner (15), Jordan Spieth (22) and Hideki Matsuyama (23).

    Player notes

  • Vijay Singh will be making his 17th start at the Sony Open, with a win in 2005 among his four top 10s.
  • Charles Howell III’s T3 finish in 2013 was his seventh top-5 finish at the Sony Open: 2013 (T3), 2012 (T2), 2010 (T5), 2009 (4th), 2007 (T2), 2005 (T3) and 2002 (T4). Having made the cut in 10 of 12 starts in this event, Howell has never shot anything worse than even-par 70 in his 20 weekend rounds.
  • Tim Clark has finished runner-up in his last two starts at the Sony Open (2011, 2013). In his other two starts at the event, he finished T12 (2009) and T25 (2010). Including a T2 at the 2013 McGladrey Classic, Clark has now posted at least one runner-up finish in 10 consecutive season on TOUR.

    Tournament notes

  • Ernie Els (2003) is the only player to win the Sony Open in Hawaii and Hyundai Tournament of Champions
    back-to-back in the same season.
  • Nine of last 15 Sony Open winners have played the week prior at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions.
  • The last player to record his first PGA TOUR victory at the Sony Open was Russell Henley (2013).
  • The last player to win the Sony Open in his first attempt was Russell Henley (2013); prior to that was Bruce Lietzke (1977).