2016 Sony Open in Hawaii Discussion Thread

[nevets88]

So it's the first "regular" regular event of the year, full field, media is focusing on whether Walker can win a hat trick and the little tempest in a teapot that was Robert Allenby. Zach Johnson, Adam Scott and Steve Stricker are in the field as are Justin Thomas and Tony Finau.

Quote

• FIELD WATCH: World No. 11 Adam Scott, returning after a year’s hiatus, leads a group of seven men among the Official World Golf Ranking's top 30 seeking to deny Jimmy Walker a Waialae three-peat. … Walker, Open Championship winner Zach Johnson and FedExCup points leader Kevin Kisner are among 22 entrants slated to hop a flight from this week’s Hyundai Tournament of Champions on Maui to play both ends of the Hawaiian double. … Vijay Singh, the 2005 Sony champion, heads a trio of 50-and-over players entered. Davis Love III and Fred Funk are the others. … Sponsor exemptions include a trio of Japan Tour players currently ranked among the world’s top 120 – No. 91 Yusako Miyazato, No. 110 Satoshi Kodaira and No. 116 Hideto Tanihara.

• TELEVISION: Thursday-Saturday, 7-10:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Sunday, 6-10 p.m. (GC).

• RADIO: Thursday-Saturday, 6-11 p.m. ET.; Sunday, 5-10 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.COM).

http://www.pgatour.com/the-first-look/2016/01/08/sony-open-in-hawaii.html

[boogielicious]

I find this course a bit odd and not very exciting. Hawaii is awesome, but Kapalua is just stunning to view on TV.

[Club Rat]

Should be interesting to see how several players perform after the rule change. Starting Jan. 1, 2016, players competing under USGA/R&A rules will no longer be allowed to affix or "anchor" the putter to their bodies. Rule 14-1b will prohibit most players from using the increasingly popular belly and broomstick models.

 

[SavvySwede]

Dang, Vijay Singh coming out strong early. Haven't seen him up top in a while.

[iacas]

3 hours ago, SavvySwede said:

Dang, Vijay Singh coming out strong early. Haven't seen him up top in a while.

Not bad for 52!

[Golfingdad]

16 hours ago, boogielicious said:

I find this course a bit odd and not very exciting. Hawaii is awesome, but Kapalua is just stunning to view on TV.

Yeah, me too,. Love me some Hawaii, but this course never did it for me.  The narrow fairways and all of the sharp doglegs make it seem like they just crammed it in there - like a cheap muni or something.

Ill still watch though. :P

[Marty2019]

Vijay Singh has to be one of the most underrated players of all time.   I wonder how many people realize what an incredible career he's had.   3 major championships, 34 PGA championships, 59 worldwide wins.   That's pretty awesome. 

[nevets88]

Did not know Singh could break Snead's oldest player to win record if he wins this week.

 

 

 

 

[rehmwa]

Had it on for 3 seconds and heard "he's an excellent driver of the golf ball".   for a second there I was sure he was an excellent driver of a cherry picker....thank goodness these guys are there to clear things up.

at that point, it seemed a good idea to just go to the gym instead of watching hawaii

[Gunther]

So weird watching Petterson with a real putter.  He'll be gone soon.

[colin007]

17 hours ago, rehmwa said:

Had it on for 3 seconds and heard "he's an excellent driver of the golf ball".   for a second there I was sure he was an excellent driver of a cherry picker....thank goodness these guys are there to clear things up.

at that point, it seemed a good idea to just go to the gym instead of watching hawaii

 

Lol lol lol!!! I totally agree.

[colin007]

Man, that Baird kid is one fugly mofo. Like he fell out of the ugly tree and hit every branch on the way down.

[Shindig]

Saw the final few holes, plus the two-hole playoff.  Good golf;  I wish I had watched more of it.

[rkim291968]

I loved the dramatic finish.  I couldn't agree with Brent's strategy on the playoff holes, 2nd one in particular.   He missed the tee shot with same club, same way, and it backfired on him.  Amazing run for the Argentinian.

[mtsalmela80]

I don't get why everyone is so hungry on the 18th. Its easy if you play conservatively off the tee, as Gomez demonstrated. He earned that win, although Snedeker put up a good fight, even with bad tee shots in the playoff.

[Golfingdad]

1 minute ago, mtsalmela80 said:

I don't get why everyone is so hungry on the 18th. Its easy if you play conservatively off the tee, as Gomez demonstrated. He earned that win, although Snedeker put up a good fight, even with bad tee shots in the playoff.

You know, I wondered that yesterday as well.  They cut that corner for that tiny lit bit of extra distance for a really small percentage change at hitting that fairway.  But after thinking about it, I'm guessing it's this: there is little risk.  If you play straight up the fairway, then the hole is not reachable for certain.  If you cut the corner successfully then it is reachable, but if you go through to the rough and get a bad it's still just a three shot hole as if you played up the fairway.

Im guessing the reasoning is along those lines.

[Shindig]

The play that confused me was Snedeker, second playoff hole, hitting what looked like a short iron out of that bunker.  Is that bunker deeper than it looked?  I figured he'd be able to get at least a long iron on it and have a shorter pitch.

[mtsalmela80]

5 hours ago, Golfingdad said:

You know, I wondered that yesterday as well.  They cut that corner for that tiny lit bit of extra distance for a really small percentage change at hitting that fairway.  But after thinking about it, I'm guessing it's this: there is little risk.  If you play straight up the fairway, then the hole is not reachable for certain.  If you cut the corner successfully then it is reachable, but if you go through to the rough and get a bad it's still just a three shot hole as if you played up the fairway.

Im guessing the reasoning is along those lines.

Didn't Gomez  get to the green from the bend? So did Blair at the end of regulation. I guess if you successfully cut it, you are looking at closer to 200 as opposed to 280 or whatever.