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Tournament Stats:
Sony Open in HawaiiWaialae Country Club
Honolulu, Hawaii
Par: 70 / Yardage: 7,060
Purse: $5.3 million with $936,000 going to the winner
Defending Champion: Paul Goydos
List of Champions & Scores
Results & Scores 2007 Sony Open in Hawaii
Box Score of 2007 Sony Open in Hawaii
Tournament facts:
Tournament Record:260 (John Huston in 1998, Brad Faxon in 2001)
54-Hole Record:
194 (John Huston in 1998)
36-Hole Record:
128 (Davis Love III in 1994, John Huston in 1998, Paul Azinger in 2000, Brad Faxon in 2001 & John Cook in 2002)
18 hole Tournament Record:
60 (Davis Love III in 1994)
Course information:
Course was designed by Seth Raynor and Charles Banks and was opened in 1925It has gone through a series of changes, first by Bob Baldock in 1966, then Arthur Jack Snyder in 1969, then Robert Nelson and Rodney Wright in 1984, then by Arnold Palmer & Ed Seay in 1991 and finally by Desmond Muirhead in 1992. To make things even tougher Waialae hired Rick Smith in the late '90s to develop some more renovations for the future. Smith came in to return the course to the original design that Seth Raynor came up with 78 years ago. One of the big changes that was made, which didn't affect the course but did affect the tournament, came in 1999. That's when tournament and PGA Tour officials moved up the tees on the 1st and 13th holes and changed them from par 5s to 4s.
The average green size at Waialae is 7,500 square feet and the course has 79 bunkers. Nine of the holes have water on them but for the touring pros only three of those holes are affected. For tournament week the nines are reversed so that the par3s 8th hole, which runs along the Pacific, becomes the 17th and is shown on television.
One other thing about Waialae: it's been the only home of the Sony Open since 1965. The only other courses with a better track record on the PGA Tour is Augusta National, which has been the home of the Masters since 1934, Pebble Beach, which has been the home of the AT&T since 1947, Colonial, which has been the home of the Crowne Plaza Invitational since 1948 and Doral, which has had a PGA Tour event every year since 1962. For a more comprehensive look at the course, look at this Course Overview done by PGA Tour.Com
The Buzz:
It's the first full-field event of the year. Since 1999 when it was placed behind the Mercedes-Benz, the Sony has always got an added boost in that most of the field of the Mercedes makes the short flight to Honolulu to play this event. Last year 32 of the 34 Mercedes participants stuck around, but that isn't going to happen this year. Only 22 of the 31 Mercedes participants went to Honolulu. A lot of reasons are being suggested, some say that with the Mercedes so early, they came over early and spent the holidays in Maui. Some like Scott Verplank, Justin Leonard, Hunter Mahan, Mike Weir and Charley Hoffman are playing in the Bob Hope and since that event starts on Wednesday they feel it's not enough time to get ready for that event. Still it's another maize of problems for the PGA Tour as they just can't seem to get the right formula for the start of this year.
Another item that isn't making much of a buzz is the fact that for the first time in four years Michelle Wie isn't in the field. After her first start in which she almost made the cut, it's been a struggle for her ever since and this year an exemption never came. One youth that is returning is Tadd Fujikawa who made the cut last year and caused a stir over the weekend. Things have changed for the Hawaiian youngster, who turned pro over the summer and still hasn't made a cut. Still he hasn't lost any of his confidence and with him turning 17 this week. He will be looking to make his homecoming very memorable.
This is the week in which rookies will get their first taste of PGA Tour life. It's also the week that some will be on showcase to see if they can fulfill some promise. One of those players is Jason Day, a 20-year-old Aussie who finished 5th on the Nationwide Tour money list. He is very cocky and has stated his ambition to "take Tiger Woods down," a very bold statement but still something that many will be rooting for. Golf is still in search for that special youngster that will have the same drive and energy to take it to another level and Day could be that person. Time will tell. Still we will have to wait, Day has been bothered with a wrist injury since October and he may not be 100%.
We also will have the story of Liang Wenchong, Asia's No. 1 golfer. Wenchong, who is presently 87th on the World Rankings, has a goal to hop into the top-50 by the end of March and getting to play in the Masters. Wenchong has had a taste of major championship golf playing last August in the PGA Championship, where he missed the cut.
Lastly we have the special story of Todd Dempsey, who returns to the PGA Tour. Back in 1997 he was a promising youth who won the 1993 NCAA golf championship and had a very promising year ahead of him. Things didn't work out. Ten years ago as he lost his Tour card, but then fell into despair as a back injury started to give him problems. Then in 2003 he had a life-changing experience as he underwent two brain-related surgeries to cure a brain tumor. His 2007 didn't start very well as a MRI showed possible regrowth of the tumor, which was benign in 2003 but luckily the growth has gone down and he was able to play. He made it through Q-school last November and regained his card and will start his season off in Hawaii, a place he has never played before.
There are four players who will be making their first career PGA Tour starts this week in Hawaii -- Travis Perkins and David Lutterus (q-school grads), and Michael Letzig and Marc Turnesa (Nationwide Tour grads).
Lastly - and it has nothing to do with the golf - but it will be interesting to see what happens on the Kelly Tilghman front. In a moment of trying to me funny with Nick Faldo who said to her, that some of the youngsters on tour should "gang up (on Tiger) for a while." Kelly told him that they should "lynch him in a back alley." Now nobody really picked up on this as I have been told that the Golf Channel received less than a dozen calls protesting the comment. Instead of just issuing an apology through media channels which again would of probably been forgotten, Kelly apologized on air about the comments on Sunday, when more were watching thus making people aware of something that nobody really knew about.
Now everything is in the open, AP writer Doug Ferguson has picked up on it in his weekly column which is widely distributed and now there is a fire storm of reaction on bulletin boards on the internet that possibly she shouldn't be in the booth this week. On top of that, the USA Today TV columnist has picked up on this so people are finding out about it. Wednesday will be an important day because things are very borderline, this could either get worse like the Imus problem in which commercial sponsors backed out, which could force Golf Channel to do something about it or the fire storm could die down and by the weekend the comments will be forgotten. Still the way the Golf Channel handled this by allowing Kelly to talk about it on Sunday could of been a problem. This could have easily been forgotten and we have to wonder what upper management is thinking.
Another thing that we have to wonder about Golf Channel's management: They told us last week that in these replays that the show's would be enhanced with better sound, more graphics and things to help make the show more interesting. On the repeat of the Friday show, they never bothered erasing Kelly's comments which means that nobody thought that this comment was a problem. So in the enhancing of shows right off the bat they do a dumb thing by not taking it off the air.
Here are some things to look for this week:
The PGA Tour is still in Hawaii for the Sony Open at Hawaii. Played at Waialae C.C. it's a fun course for the pros that has only one defense, the wind. If it blows scores are reasonable, but without winds scores go low. The long range forecast is for partly cloudy skies on all four days. Of course the pro's will find winds this week also that plagued the tour last week. With that look for scores to again go up, maybe not as high as last week but high for Waialae.
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Here are some of the secrets of what it takes to play well at Waialae:
- Only 22 of the 31 Mercedes participants are in the field. They will find a totally different experience between Kapalua and Waialae as this week the fairways will be tighter and a bomber like Chopra won't have a big advantage.
- With the reduction of par from 72 to 70 seven years ago, more is placed on iron play. Those who are the best are those that hit a lot of greens, in the last nine years five of the winners were either first or second in the greens including last year's winner David Toms who was T2nd.
- Before last year the winners have been marquee names (David Toms in 2006, Vijay Singh in 2005, Ernie Els in 2003 & '04, Brad Faxon in 2001, Paul Azinger in 2000, Jeff Sluman in 1999, John Huston in 1998 and Jim Furyk in 1996). Last year things changed as Paul Goydos, who hadn't won in a decade took the title. Taking this a step further, experience at Waialae is a must to win. Other than Guy Brewer winning the first Sony Open back in 1965, the event has only seen one other first time win and that was Bruce Lietzke in 1977. All the other winners of the Sony have played previously so experience playing at Waialae is an important factor in winning.
- So does this mean that a newcomer like a Jason Day or a Todd Dempsey aren't good pics? Yes.
- Waialae could be one of the easiest course on the PGA Tour without winds. Without either the trade or Kona winds look for a possible sub-60 round
- Look for Bermuda green specialist:
Greens are very graining with funky breaks so look for those who putt well in Florida doing well here. Every winner from the last decade plays great on Bermuda grass. - Lots of greenside bunkers with pins tucked right behind them. Need to be a good bunker player.
- One thing to look for, those that play well during the year on the par 4s do well at Waialae. Of those in the field that played at the Mercedes last week and are playing this week, Steve Stricker played the par 4s the best at the Mercedes at 11 under, with Daniel Chopra next at 8 under along with Brandt Snedeker.
- This week 17 year-old Tadd Fujikawa will again be the focus of attention, at least through the first couple of rounds. He became famous last year for what he did and with that was able to turn pro at 16. As a professional he still hasn't made a cut and there has been a lot of criticism on about that so it will be nice to see him do it.
