The PGA Tour stays in Hawaii this week as Steve Stricker looks to make it two wins from two tournaments following his victory at the season-opening Tournament of Champions.
Having had to beat just 27 men last week, the world number five will have to get the better of 143 other players this time round at the Sony Open. Amongst those competitors is last year’s USPGA runner-up Jason Dufner and he looks a good shout to finally break his Tour duck.
The difference between last week’s Plantation Course and the one at the Waialae Country Club couldn’t be any bigger and this week’s winner will need to be accurate off the tee in order to stay out of the thick rough.
The previous winners of this tournament include David Toms, KJ Choi and Ernie Els, not traditionally big hitters but certainly accurate enough tee-to-green. The tight par 70 track is likely to pose the players a number of challenges, but Dufner (40/1) has shown he can handle whatever the course throws at him.
The 34-year-old certainly won a lot fans when he lost out to Keegan Bradley in a play-off at the last major of 2011, arguably his best year on tour despite his failure to win a tournament. The Ohio-native also lost in a playoff at the Phoneix Open, but recorded eight top-10 finishes, enough to suggest he could do even better this year.
Dufner has a decent record in Honolulu, finishing 13th in 2007 and 20th in 2010, carding a round of 64 in the latter to show he has a handle on the course.
While the Christmas break might well have dented his form his third place finish at the Nedbank Championship recently suggests the holidays won’t have taken their toll too much and an each way bet could well be worth it.
Looking towards the top of the outright market we find Stricker at 13/2 after his win last week. However, history tells us not many players can make a winning transition from Kapalua to Waialae, with Els the last man to do the Hawaii double nine years ago.
Banking on history repeating itself we also fancy Kevin Na to have a good weekend given his playing style. Na broke his tour duck at the Justin Timberlake Shriners Open last year and showed the festive break hadn’t dented his form too much with a 12th place finish last week.
The Plantation Course didn’t particularly suit him and he should feel more at home this week. He has managed top five finishes in two of his last four starts at the Sony Open and as such is a decent each way shout at 33/1.
If you don’t like either Na or Dufner then how about Charles Howell III at 25/1. The Georgia-native has enjoyed his time in Hawaii traditionally, finishing second, third, fourth and fifth in the past.
His seven top-10 finishes last year suggest 2012 will be a consistent, if not spectacular year. Hopefully he will finally find his winning touch at Waialae this weekend.
