2024 Sony Open in Hawaii: Top 10 power rankings at Waialae

Tyrrell Hatton comes to Waialae for the first time in 2024. This is a place where some course experience tends to help, but Hatton is in too good of form to ignore.

I just don’t have him pegged as the favorite like some sportsbooks do.

Why he’ll be able to go low at the Sony Open in Hawaii is because of his accuracy and putter. Hatton drives it long enough to contend in the modern era, but that’s not his strength.

He can pick courses apart with his ball striking, which helped him rank 12th on the PGA Tour last season in Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green (1.081). He also had a solid short game, but it was the putter that was his big weapon. The Englishman ranked seventh in SG: Putting (.597).

While his temperament is anything but, Hatton is one of the steadiest players in the world as far as results go.

In 2023, the 32-year-old collected 10 top-10s in 24 starts worldwide with two second-place finishes and two third-place finishes. It seems like a matter of time until Hatton hoists a trophy for the first time since 2021.

He teed it up last week at The Sentry, where he carded 69-62-72-67 to finish T-14th. Encouraging for this week is Hatton was ninth at Kapalua in SG: Around-the-Green (1.889). He was also 19th in SG: Approach (1.603).

If he can dial in those irons just a little bit more on approach this week at Waialae’s small greens, Hatton can at least contend for the title.

He enters the week with four top-14 finishes in his last five events.