Andy breaks down The Sony Open PGA tournament with Tips, Predictions, Course Preview, Draftkings Darlings, Stats and more.
Who’s the Favorite?
All eyes are on the young phenom Ludvig Aberg who sits atop the current odds board at +1600 followed closely by fellow stars Tyrell Hatton and Matthew Fitzpatrick both at +.1800. Don’t count out dark horses like Brian Harman (+2000) and Chris Kirk, last weeks winner, lurking in the shadows, eager to make their mark in the new year.
Catch the Action Live:
Can’t make it to Hawaii? No worries! Tune in to Golf Channel for all four rounds of coverage, starting with Thursday’s first round at 4:30 PM ET. Follow the drama unfold on CBS Sports on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, starting at 3:00 PM ET.
Join the Conversation:
Stay connected with all the action and share your excitement on social media! Follow @PGATOUR and #thesonyopen on Twitter for updates, highlights, and behind-the-scenes content. Use the official hashtag #thesonyopen to join the online buzz and discuss your picks with fellow golf fans.
So, grab your favorite beverage, settle in, and get ready for a week of golfing magic under the Hawaiian sun! With top players, thrilling competition, and a picturesque setting, The Sentry promises a tournament you won’t want to miss.
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Chris Kirk was Victorious last week at the century to start the 2024 Year seeu Kim is your defending champ at this week’s Sony Open I am Andy Lang from wager talk.com going to break down the Sony Open preview go over some DraftKings Darlings players to trip you
Up some betting notes and get you ready for this week’s tournament we are staying over in Hawaii and uh everything I go over in this video and more is going to be covered in a free article that I do at wagertalk.com so so if you prefer reading this and you want a few
More tips uh just go to wagertalk.com click on Andy Lang’s profile there’s a free digital download I put up a preview every single week so if you’re interested in that go grab that at wagertalk.com most of the things that we go over in that article we’ll be talking
About in this video and of course all of our official golf plays are going to be up at wagertalk.com nice 2 and0 week to start the week uh two and a week last week to start the year so excited about that one let’s talk a little bit about
Wly uh W uh Country Club so it’s a par 70 it’s a little bit short there’s two par fivs that are reachable for everybody and the biggest thing you got to know about this course is if there’s wind it can play a little bit difficult if there’s not wind these guys are
Probably going to go pretty low and it does not look like there’s going to be wind this week so my guess is we’re going to see the winner be around – 18 to -21 somewhere in that range uh last week we saw when there was no wind at
The at the course they just tore it up on Saturday there was some wind and so you saw some guys struggle but yeah no wind equals green light on this course the rough used to be taller and so when you drove the ball if you put it in the
Rough it was pretty it could it could be difficult to come out of the rough but they’ve they’ve cut the rough down so you’re going to see the bombers really swinging away on some of these holes cuz there’s just not that much penalty if you go off into the rough so expect guys
To be swinging away I don’t think this course favors the bombers um it’s kind of short so you’re looking at some shorter par 3es you’re looking at some shorter par fours and most of these guys are going to have you know midiron to wedge coming into these holes especially
On the par fives all of them both those par fives are going to be reachable so in the end it’s going to come down to who gets the hottest Putter and I know it’s an obvious statement like well whoever puts the ball the most but I
Think all these guys are going to be able to hit the greens I think T degree numbers are going to be pretty good across the board and you’re just going to see at the end of the week who’s got those exceptional uh putting numbers so um I expect a pretty competitive
Tournament the field is fairly weak compared to last week’s field purse money goes down what do you know a lot of the guys are not playing it so uh ludvic abar Matthew Fitzpatrick and Tyrell Hatton your top three betting favorites what’s crazy about them is none of them have played this course
Before uh or at least a tournament I don’t know if they’ve played the course in their free time but yeah none of them played here before which is interesting because most of the time you you you look at course history and there is none for the top three guys so it’ll be
Interesting to see how those guys do so let’s take a look at the top 10 total Strokes gained the last six months Brian Harmon and JT posted no surprise those are your top two uh Putters on the PGA tour in this time span and these guys have been playing great they both were
Really good last week ludvick abar here’s your betting favorite he’s number three Matthew Fitzpatrick is four and Ben on kind of a surprise there would never would not have guessed him to be inside the top uh top five of total Strokes go gained the last six months so
I’ve got your total top 10 in that article on wagertalk.com so if you’re looking at who’s in good form the last six months there is your top uh top five uh what do we have up well if you guys uh still want to grab a Year’s worth of
Golf and auto racing plays that uh package is still available it’s discounted down to$ 299 it’s at Andy Lang at waer talk.com never had a losing in season of golf never had a losing season of auto racing since we joined wager talk so really proud of that
Record and we’re 2 and0 all ready to start the golf season so really really excited and if you’re interested in Year’s worth of plays of all of our Sports you can use the promo code at Lang 50 lg50 it’s $1,000 off 365 days of all sports we are already plus 21 units
Into the 2024 season so we were up 91 units last year we’re trying to beat that goal and we are are off to an incredible start I have very very high hopes that package includes all sports all percentages everything that we put up at wager talk.com you’ll have access
To so uh grab that promo code Lang 50 Andy Lang wagertalk.com and as always if you have any questions leave a comment below guys if you could please hit the like button and leave me a comment tell me who you like this week or who you
Don’t like this week we do our segment players that can trip you up it’s pretty easy to most you could read any article and it’s going to tell you who people like to win I think I like to look at some guys who uh I think people are
Going to bet on and I think it’s a mistake so these guy these are three guys I’m going to stay away from this week the very first one is your betting favorite ludvick AAR so listen I I I get it all the potential in the world the
Guy is an absolute machine his drives are incredible they’re long they’re straight my problem with him is is his putting and he can struggle at times with the putting so last week I was really interested to see how he was going to perform because everybody can
Drive the ball and hit the fairways last week at that course but it’s a putt Fest and whose short game is really going to excel he was not good uh minus 0.65 Strokes gained putting he finished in 47th Place last week in a short field and I have concerns about him on this
Course this week because I don’t think he’s going to have a huge Advantage with his length because everyone’s going to be able to drive the ball and either put it in the Fairway or in in the light rough so it’s going to come down to your
Short game uh short par 70 course no wind um his driving distance just it’s going to be great to watch but I’m not sure it’s going to put him in positions that he’s going to Excel and if he doesn’t get that putter going uh he’s not going to return value I mean the
Guy’s got to finish top three to return value for you anyway but I will not be betting on louc abar quite the opposite I actually think there’s value in betting against him will zorus I listened to the interview you know zor will zorus missed most of 2023
With a pretty serious back surgery the last time we saw him play actual golf he finished dead last um in a tournament in the fall he says he’s been playing been playing for money been playing serious golf almost every day in December he’s been playing for money this is his debut
I will pass on Will’s alur and there’s a couple of other things that go on with him he traditionally doesn’t do well on these courses where you have to go really low his his ball striking and his TD green numbers are really where he excels when when courses are tough to
Hit greens and courses are tough to hit Fairways and you got to grind out pars that’s where will zorus really really shines these courses where everybody can hit the Fairway and everybody can hit the green and it requires a really good putting stroke he kind of tends to to
Stumble a little bit I think this is a going to knock off the rust uh it’s his first tournament back it’s not a huge purse he’s overpriced in my opinion he’s 35 to1 to win and he’s the 10th highest golfer in DFS no chance I’m putting
Wills zalot torus in there you need a top 10 finish to return turn value um I just I just don’t think it’s there the Hero World Challenge which is his first tournament that he played in the fall really up and down he shot a he had
Rounds of 68 and 71 but then he also had round rounds of 81 and 79 and I think that could continue with him you know it’s a serious back surgery that he had I don’t think you just jump right in and you feel 100% as the season goes on so I
Think he’s going to have to get a few tournaments under his belt to really kind of get into the swing of things so will zorus is somebody I will not be betting on and then I think SEIU Kim it’s you know it’s a water downfield it’s not great so you’re looking for who
Am I going to put in fantasy lineups who am i b oh see W Kim he’s a defending champ uh I don’t I’m not really buying it so I know he won last year but he’d finished 55th 25th miscut and 58th the four previous years putting has been
Terrible the last six months minus 0.55 Strokes gain putting his approach is even so his approach numbers aren’t great his putting’s terrible and that is just not going to work uh at the at this course so um last week he was not very good 25th Place finish in a short field
I just don’t think he’s going to repeat his winner I’d be pretty surprised if he got a top 20 finish out of him but I think people are going to see that he won last year and oh he’s going to do good again SEI wo can be very very hit
Or miss when he’s on he can win tournaments randomly like he did last year I just don’t see a Repeat Performance so ludvick abar wills aloris and sew Kim those are three players that I think can trip you up let’s take a look at Draft Kings Darlings I did good
In DraftKings Cameron Davis was terrible but the rest of our picks were really good in a no cut tournament So I entered a tournament with 150 people last week uh finished 27th and inside the money so that was nice uh let’s take a look at some guys here Maverick mcne at 6800 so
I I will preface this by saying I’m going stars and scrubs you got it’s topheavy and then it just falls off a cliff you got a lot of guys in my opinion that are less than 9,000 all kind of blend together so I’m going for the cheapest guys possible and I’m going
To hope to get these guys miraculously through to the weekend which leaves me a lot of room for some bigger Nam guys so I’ll start with Maverick man not been in good form but he loves playing here finished 27th and sth the last two years
Here I just need him to make the cut and get us weekend Point points his putting has been awful his driving’s been terrible but his approaches have been pretty good sometimes there are these courses that these guys just like playing at and Maverick mcne seems to always play well here it’s not that
Difficult of a field to get through so I think he can at least make the weekend and if he performs close to that 27th and seventh place I mean even if he’s a top 30 golfer this week on of course he he likes playing then you’re getting a
Steal at 6,800 so Maverick mcney my first guy Paton gazy he’s made the cut in five straight tournaments and he’s made the cut in five out of six years here so I’m going to roll with him um you know he he’s one of those guys that he’s just very very familiar with this
Course and we see a lot of the same guys make the cut year after year after year here what’s interesting about this there’s only one guy in this field who’s finished top 10 the last two years here that’s Matt coocher but pan gazay in in decent form where he’s making Cuts he he
Makes the cut here and 6800 is a really really good price again I’m just trying to have a few guys lower price just get me through to the weekend give me some weekend points and I can fire away on three bigger names I think have a chance
To win and then Taylor Montgomery this guy can be ice cold or like Lava Hot with the putter over the last 6 months he’s back to being hot plus 071 Strokes game putting this guy was on fire with the Putter and then he was horrific with the Putter and you saw him
Missing cut after cut after cut and now he seems to be back on with the good putting his driving and approach numbers aren’t great but he finished 12th last year at this tournament four straight finishes of 35th are better so Taylor Montgomery you just kind of ride the wave here um with him
It if you’re putting really good on a course like this it can make up for a lot so if your drives aren’t great if your approaches instead of being within 4 feet you’re within 10 feet but you get that putter where you’re rolling a bunch
Of them in it can just overcome and it can mask a lot of the things that are that are not great in your game so if he putts great he’s going to make the cut and I think he’s going to get us a lot of weekend points so Maverick McNeely
Paton cuazon Taylor Montgomery are my DraftKings Darlings and if you want the rest of my personal lineup that is on the art at wagertalk.com but uh if you start your lineup with this you’re going to have a lot of options to play with so those are my Draft Kings Darlings for
This week and we’ll do a couple betting notes here so Chris Kirk won last week now he has two top three finishes here in the last three years and his other finish was I believe it was a top 30 finish I think it was like 26th or 27th
So you got Chris Kirk coming off of a win and you know he plays good here I just worry about the let down if you guys have followed me for years you know I love fading random winners I don’t think Chris Kirk qualifies as a random
Winner the guy’s been good um I know people said wow such a shock that he won okay yeah it wasn’t you know he wasn’t the on the on the top of everyone’s list but this is a guy that has had a pretty good uh run and so I
You know was I surprised he won in that field yeah I was surprised but is it just like the most shocking thing ever no the guy’s been good so um I I he doesn’t qualify as a winner I’m not going to be betting against him this
Week could there be a little bit of a let down spot maybe but uh he plays good here and what better way to cap off a win last week than playing it of course he plays good at and winning again so Matsuyama we mentioned him last week I
Did not fade him that was my big mistake and my big regret he was awful second to last is where he finished it was minus 2.17 Strokes game putting I just think you’re going to fade Matsuyama for foreseeable future his neck issue is not going away his putting issues are not
Going away um I I just I think we’ve seen the best of Matsuyama I’m not really sure what we’re going to get he’s just been bad for for a little bit here and um I just don’t see it getting better I’m going to keep betting against
Him he’s going to have to prove it to me first I no chance I’m putting him in DFS or I’m betting on him he’s a he’s a a fade for me sure Cory Connors has finished top 12 in four straight tournaments here Cory Connor of course burned everybody last last year by
Missing the cut at the Masters uh who could forget that when he just completely quit on the back nine of his second round missing the cut and absolutely killed everybody and DraftKings and and uh pools and all that stuff so um and then JT Poston and Brian Haron
Are the top two PJ tour guy guys in this field in Strokes game putting this week when you pull up to Stats there’s some guy from the Asian tour who is like crazy hot with the putter right now but PJ tour guys JT Poston Brian Harmon
Those are your guys that are rolling in the putts and they’ve been doing it for a while obviously these guys are you know two of the better Putters when they get in the groove and Brian Haron uh just playing really good you go back to the US Open and uh since then hasn’t
Missed a cut he’s got a major win and I think you got to put him in at least the top 10 of golfers on tour right now so playing really good and I’m not sure he’s uh he’s valued correctly so JT post and Brian Haron and these guys are going
To be kind of two of the bigger names in this field so I almost put Poston in uh in DraftKings Darlings but I think he’s a solid play I think he’s a little bit under pric in that one so so those are your betting notes for the uh for the
Sony Open here uh just a quick little recap here my DraftKings Darlings Maverick McNeely at 6,800 Patton kazy at 6,800 and Taylor Montgomery at 7100 uh players that I think can trip you up ludvick AAR will zuris and SEIU Kim those are some guys that I’m not
Going to be betting on this week and of course if you want all of my official golf plays go grab those at wagertalk.com we still have our annual special where we do golf and auto racing discounted down to$ 299 I have two really strong golf plays up for this
Week uh both of those are available on the domestics so take advantage of that and I believe Nick Borman will be back with me next week so we’ll get back to our normal tea time uh our our normal tea time show is uh where Nick can be uh
Doing all of his outright winners and things like that so appreciate everybody thanks for joining us please hit the like button and leave me a comment really helps the algorithm out good luck in all your plays let’s keep the uh winnings going as we’re 2 and0 in golf
For 2024 good luck we’ll see you everyone next week
1 Comment
good stuff, Andy, thx