2021 Sony Open In Hawaii Preview

2021 Sony Open in Hawaii Preview

Dates: January 11-17, 2021
Location: Honolulu, Hawaii
Course: Waialae Country Club
Par/Yards: 70/7,044
Defending champion: Cameron Smith
Purse: $6,600,000/$1,188,000
FedExCup: 500 points to the winner
Format: 72-hole stroke play
Field: 144

Things to Know

• Defending champion Cameron Smith looks to become the fifth player to win back-to-back at the Sony Open in Hawaii
• Harris English could join Ernie Els (2003) and Justin Thomas (2017) as the only players to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions and Sony Open in Hawaii in the same season
• 30 of the 42 players in the Sentry Tournament of Champions field are scheduled to play, including playoff participants English and Joaquin Niemann
• Field highlighted by 13 major winners (16 wins), including 2020 PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa

Field Notes

• 17 of the top 30 in the FedExCup standings, led by Harris English (2), Stewart Cink (7), Carlos Ortiz (8) and Jason Kokrak (10)
• 20 of the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking, led by Collin Morikawa (5) and Webb Simpson (8)
• 30 of 42 players in the Sentry Tournament of Champions, including playoff participants Harris English and Joaquin Niemann
• Eight 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season winners: Stewart Cink (Safeway Open), Hudson Swafford (Corales Puntacana Resort & Club Championship), Sergio Garcia (Sanderson Farms Championship), Jason Kokrak (THE CJ CUP @ SHADOW CREEK), Brian Gay (Bermuda Championship), Carlos Ortiz (Vivint Houston Open), Robert Streb (The RSM Classic), Harris English (Sentry Tournament of Champions)
• 12 past Sony Open champions: Jim Furyk (1996), Jerry Kelly (2002), Vijay Singh (2005), K.J. Choi (2008), Zach Johnson (2009), Ryan Palmer (2010), Russell Henley (2013), Jimmy Walker (2014, 2015), Fabian Gomez (2016), Patton Kizzire (2018), Matt Kuchar (2019), Cameron Smith (2020)
• Five past FedExCup champions: Vijay Singh (2008), Jim Furyk (2010), Bill Haas (2011), Brandt Snedeker (2012), Billy Horschel (2014)

FedExCup and the Sony Open in Hawaii

• 14^th event of the 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season
• Since the TOUR went to a wraparound schedule in 2013-14, five of the seven winners of the Sony Open in Hawaii entered the week in the top 10 of the FedExCup standings (Jimmy Walker/2^nd/2014, Walker/8^th/2015, Justin Thomas/2^nd/2017, Patton Kizzire/3^rd/2018, Matt Kuchar/9^th/2019)
• Justin Thomas is the only player to win the Sony Open and the FedExCup in the same season (2017)
• 10 of 14 Sony Open winners in the FedExCup era have gone on to qualify for the TOUR Championship in that season; most recently, Cameron Smith finished 24^th in 2020

A look back at the 2020 Sony Open in Hawaii

Pos	Player	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
P1	Cameron Smith	70	65	66	68	269 (-11)*
P2	Brendan Steele	68	66	64	71	269 (-11)
3	Webb Simpson	71	66	66	67	270 (-10)

• Cameron Smith can join the following players who have won back-to-back at the Sony Open: Hubert Green (1978, 1979), Corey Pavin (1986, 1987), Ernie Els (2003, 2004), Jimmy Walker (2014, 2015)
• Smith birdied the 72^nd hole from 8 feet, 7 inches to move to 11-under 269 and force sudden death with Brendan Steele
• Earned his second career PGA TOUR title and first in an individual stroke play event (won the 2017 Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Jonas Blixt)
• Victory came in his 116^th career start on TOUR at the age of 26 years, 4 months, 25 days
• Has made five starts in the Sony Open in Hawaii: T81/2016, T27/2017, T18/2018, T22/2019, Won/2020

Current FedExCup standings

Pos.	Player	Points	Wins	Top-10s	Starts
1	Dustin Johnson	1,018	1	3	4
2	Harris English	940	1	5	7
3	Justin Thomas	784	0	4	6
4	Bryson DeChambeau	783	1	3	4
5	Patrick Cantlay	717	1	2	6
6	Viktor Hovland	706	1	1	6
7	Stewart Cink	695	1	2	7
8	Carlos Ortiz	633	1	2	8
9	Xander Schauffele	624	0	3	5
10	Jason Kokrak	617	1	1	7

Players in the field that competed at last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions (30)

• Ancer, Abraham
• Berger, Daniel
• Cink, Stewart
• English, Harris
• Garcia, Sergio
• Gay, Brian
• Griffin, Lanto
• Horschel, Billy
• Hughes, Mackenzie
• Im, Sungjae
• Kisner, Kevin
• Kokrak, Jason
• Landry, Andrew
• Leishman, Marc
• Matsuyama, Hideki
• Morikawa, Collin
• Muñoz, Sebastián
• Na, Kevin
• Niemann, Joaquin
• Ortiz, Carlos
• Palmer, Ryan
• Scott, Adam
• Simpson, Webb
• Smith, Cameron
• Streb, Robert
• Swafford, Hudson
• Taylor, Nick
• Thompson, Michael
• Todd, Brendon
• Werenski, Richy

Additional Player Notes

• Coming off a win at last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions, Harris English hopes to join Ernie Els (2003) and Justin Thomas (2017) as players to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions and Sony Open in Hawaii in the same season; will make his ninth start at the Sony Open in Hawaii, led by three consecutive top-10 finishes in 2013 (T9), 2014 (4^th), 2015 (T3)
• Since 2000, five players have lost in a playoff at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and finished in the top five the following week at the Sony Open in Hawaii; Joaquin Niemann looks to become the sixth to earn a top-five and second to win

Year	Player	Sony Open in Hawaii result
2021	Joaquin Niemann	TBD
2020	Patrick Reed	MC
2020	Xander Schauffele	DNP
2015	Jimmy Walker	Won
2011	Robert Garrigus	MC
2008	Steve Stricker	T4
2006	Vijay Singh	6th
2002	David Toms	T4
2000	Ernie Els	5th

• Charles Howell III has collected 10 top-10 finishes and has not missed a cut in 19 starts at the Sony Open in Hawaii; he is the all-time earnings leader at the event despite not having won it ($2,948,281)
• Kevin Kisner has three top-five finishes in nine Sony Open in Hawaii starts: T5/2016, T4/2017, T4/2020
• 2020 PGA Championship winner Collin Morikawa returns for his second start at the Sony Open in Hawaii (T21/2020)
• Webb Simpson has three top-10s in 10 starts at the event, including two in the last three years (T9/2009, T4/2018, 3^rd/2020); has six straight top-20 finishes in the event
• Jimmy Walker’s Sony Open history includes back-to-back wins in 2014 and 2015 and a fourth-place finish in 2011
• World No. 118 and former top-ranked amateur Takumi Kanaya of Japan will make his second Sony Open in Hawaii start (MC/2019) as a sponsor exemption; making sixth career start on the PGA TOUR and second since turning professional
• 2018 Punahou School (Honolulu, Hawaii) graduate and current University of San Diego golfer Evan Kawai won the Sony Open amateur qualifier to achieve a childhood dream to play in the Sony Open; last player to win the event in tournament debut was Russell Henley (2013)

Longest-running PGA TOUR title sponsors

• The Honda Classic                               1982
• AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am              1986
• Sony Open in Hawaii                          1999
• John Deere Classic                              1999

Longest-running host courses (non-Major Championships)

• Charles Schwab Challenge -Colonial Country Club (1946)
  • no tournament in 1949 and 1975
• AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am -Pebble Beach Golf Links (1947)
  • multiple course rotation has included Pebble Beach GL since 1947
• Sony Open in Hawaii – Waialae Country Club (1965)
  • no tournament in 1970

The Sony Open In Hawaii Preview is via PGA TOUR