While the PGA Tour’s traditional season opener, the Sentry, was canceled this year, fans can still get their fill of Hawaiian vistas at next week’s Sony Open, which is played at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu on the island of Oahu.
And given the strength of field on display in the Sony Open’s published player commitments, the world’s best are just as anxious to get the competitive season rolling as the fans are to watch them.
Four of the world’s top-10 players will be teeing it up next week: Russell Henley (No. 5), U.S. Open champion J.J. Spaun (No. 6), Robert MacIntyre (No. 7) and Ben Griffin (No. 8).
Other notables in the 120-player field include defending Sony Open champion Nick Taylor, U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley, Jordan Spieth, Tony Finau, Hideki Matsuyama, Collin Morikawa, Adam Scott and Vijay Singh, who, at age 62, is cashing in his final year of Tour eligibility with an exemption as a top 50 all-time earner on the lifetime money list. (With $71,281,286 in career earnings, Singh is No. 6 all-time, ahead of Justin Thomas and behind Jim Furyk.)
So where are the world’s top two players? World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler has played the Sentry three times over the years, but has never teed it up at the Sony Open, preferring instead to start the year on the mainland at the American Express. Scheffler has already committed to play in the California desert this year.
Rory McIlroy, World No. 2, tends to start the year with the DP World Tour in Dubai rather than with the PGA Tour in Hawaii, though he did play the Sentry once, in 2019. For the last two years, McIlroy’s first PGA Tour appearance of the year has come at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, which is scheduled to be played February 12-15 this year.
The Sony Open begins on Thursday, January 15th. You can watch the action starting at 12 p.m. ET on ESPN+, with broadcast coverage starting at 7 p.m. ET on Golf Channel.
