Golf Tips: A 22/1 shot tops our Sony Open best bets

Ben Smith

Golf

8mo ago

Golf Betting Tips

PGA Sony Open

Corey Conners to win
Russell Henley to win
Patton Kizzire to win (each-way)

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change.

Corey Conners to win

Having finished 2024 strongly and kicked off the new year in a similar vein, Corey Conners is primed to contend for his first PGA Tour title since 2023.

The Canadian was the best putter in the field at the Sentry a week ago. The flat stick is not typically a club that works to Conners’ advantage, but perhaps he can strike while the iron is hot here and raise the other areas of his game on a track that plays to his strengths.

This 7,044-yard par 70 demands accuracy rather than power. That has allowed the likes of Si Woo Kim, Kevin Na, Cameron Smith, and Matt Kuchar to triumph at Waialae Country Club, none of whom are particularly long off the tee.

Conners has played the Sony Open six times, and registered top 12 finishes on four occasions, with a best effort of third-place in 2019.

Having come in the top seven in each of his last three outings stretching back to last year, it is difficult to see Conners being too far away from the top on Sunday.

Russell Henley to win

Like Conners, Russell Henley loves this tournament, so much so that he won on debut in Honolulu in 2013. His three-stroke victory 12 years ago was no fluke; the American has come close to doubling his Sony Open tally twice. He fell one short of the three-man playoff last year, having lost on the extra hole to Hideki Matsuyama in 2022.

Henley’s display at the Sentry was nowhere near as impressive as Conners’ which is why his price is bigger, but he improved as the competition went on, closing with back-to-back 68s. The 35-year-old ranked fourth for approach play on Sunday as he appeared to feel his way into the event.

It is more than understandable that Henley is only now getting up to speed. Last week was only the second time he had teed it up twice since the Tour Championship where he finished in an eye-catching fourth place. Henley came T7 and fifth respectively at the US Open and Open Championship in 2024 and is on an upward trend.

Patton Kizzire to win (each-way)

Henley isn’t the only former Sony Open champion who appeals this week. Patton Kizzire has not only tasted success in Hawaii and posted a further top 10, but he has also won on the PGA Tour as recently as September.

The three-time PGA Tour winner is by no means a consistent player, hence the huge odds, but these days he does not need to arrive off the back of pleasing results in order to contend on courses he likes.

Kizzire’s Procore Championship triumph last year came after two consecutive missed cuts. It was a middle-of-the-road performance in all departments at the Plantation Course to kick off 2025, but nowhere near bad enough to put me off having a pop at a three-figure price.