The Sony Open is next up on the PGA Tour. Here is who we think is going to win the first full-field event of 2020.
The golf season can be a little odd. Yes, this is the first full season event in 2020. Yet, the Sony Open isn’t the first event of 2020, and it sure isn’t even close to being the first event of the 2020 calendar.
It is the official resumption of full-field golf, and we couldn’t be happier for it. It means the season is back in full force, and that the PLAYERS and the majors will be here before you know it.
Today, we are bringing you our picks for who we think is going to win this week. Hopefully, you listened to our resident Fantasy Golf guy, Hans Geevers, last week. He brought you a win with his pick of Justin Thomas. He is still chasing Richie, but it’s much closer now.
Monday brought you power rankings, and Tuesday you got to see the fantasy golf selections for the week. We had sleeper picks this morning, and finish it out with the staff selections to win the Sony Open. Here we go!
Justin Thomas
Kathy Bissell – Justin Thomas
Cameron Salce – Justin Thomas
Mike Randleman – Going with last week’s winner, and the guy that I slotted into the top of this week’s power rankings, Justin Thomas.
“Thomas is seeking his second Sony Open title. His 2017 victory featured an opening 59 for one of what’s now 10 sub-60 rounds ever on the PGA Tour. Thomas closed with 64-65-65 to blitz runner up Justin Rose by seven.”
Collin Morikawa
Eric Sedransk – Collin Morikawa
West Valentine – Collin Morikawa. I love this kid’s game. He just had a good week with a stacked field at the Sentry and the Sony field looks significantly easier to navigate. I think 2020 is the year we are going to see the next wave of PGA stars make their entrance – Wolff, Hovland, Niemann, Morikawa, Sung-Jae, and Wise. Morikawa has the game for the course and the talent to make his mark early.
Sungjae Im
Bill Felber – It was a struggle between Im and Morikawa. Going with Sungjae Im this week.
Richie Randolph – I’ll pick Sungjae Im this week. The reigning PGA Tour Rookie of the Year, Im was a model of consistency last year, racking up 16 top-25 finishes in 35 events. He finished 2019 17th in Totals Stroked Gained and the only thing missing from his resume is a win. He breaks that drought this week in Hawaii!
Webb Simpson
Matt Coles – Webb Simpson
Chris O’Day – Webb Simpson has played some fantastic golf in his career at the Sony Open. He has made the cut all nine times that he has teed up here and finished in the top 20 in six of those. He has been crushing it here in his last four starts, going T-13th, T-13th, T-13th, and then his best finish of T-4th back in 2018. I like him to get his first win here in his tenth start.
Patrick Reed
Hans Geevers – Patrick Reed – Love him or hate him, Captain America is playing some great golf.
Kasey Kuhrts – Patrick Reed – I had a hard time deciding who to pick this week, but I am going to go with Patrick Reed. Patrick had multiple chances to win last Sunday, but couldn’t get it done. I think Patrick can take his strong performance from last week, and follow it up with another strong showing in Hawaii.
Corey Conners
Connor Schmidtke – Corey Conners – It is so tempting to go obvious and pick JT, but I’m going to think a little outside the box and go with Corey Conners. He finished 3rd here last year after finishing the weekend with a pair of 64’s. He played a lot better than his score suggested last week, hitting the 2nd Most Green-in-regs for the week so if he can get the putter rolling, the potential is there for a big week at the Sony Open.
Joaquin Niemann
Jordan Perez – For this week, I’m all about the hype train… Joaquin Niemann.
Ben Criswell – Derailed partially by blustery conditions in Maui, Niemann finished T5 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, participation alone considered a win of itself. There seems to be good karma for Joaquins this week – Phoenix having won Best Actor in a Motion Picture Drama at the Golden Globes – making this Joaquin a good bet to win the Sony Open.
Best of luck to everyone in their picks this week for the Sony Open.