This week's field includes:
- This is the first full-field event in 2008 so look for a lot of rookies. Of the 26 Q-school graduates, only 4 (Carlos Franco, Duffy Waldorf, Chris Stroud and Brett Rumford) are in the tournament
- The field includes 7 of the top 25 in the latest Official World Golf Rankings, with four from the top-10, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh, Steve Stricker and K.J. Choi. The other five top 25 players in the field are Rory Sabbatini, Angel Cabrera and Aaron Baddeley.
- The field includes 10 of the top 25 of last year's PGA Tour money list. The the ones at the Sony are Vijay Singh, Steve Stricker, K.J. Choi, Rory Sabbatini, Jim Furyk, Aaron Baddeley, Mark Calcavecchia, Brandt Snedeker, Charles Howell III and Boo Weekley.
- The field includes 7 past champions: Paul Goydos - 2006, Vijay Singh - 2005, Jerry Kelly - 2002, Paul Azinger - 2000, Jeff Sluman - 1999, John Huston - 1998 and Jim Furyk - 1996.
A perfect way for fantasy golfers to check on the past performance of all the players in the Sony Open in Hawaii field are these performance charts, one with the players listed alphabetically and the other with the players listed by average finish.
One last way to check who is the best is through a special formula worked out in Golfstats that gives us the best average performances at the Sony Open in Hawaii in the last five years.
Who is hot and who is not:
Even though the PGA Tour has only had one event in 60 days, there have been other events in which players have participated in. Here is a look at some of the hot players that are playing this week:
Daniel Chopra, won the
Mercedes last week, won the 2nd to last event on the PGA Tour at the
Ginn and finished 2nd at the Australian Masters
Steve Stricker, 2nd at
Mercedes last week.
Stephen Ames, 3rd at Mercedes
last week, won the last event of the year at Disney and Skins Game
during Thanksgiving.
Mike
Weir 4th at Mercedes last week, won the last event he played in
at the Fry's Electronics Open.
Here are some of the players I would avoid this week:
Paul
Goydos finished 30th last week at the Mercedes.
K.J.
Choi finished T28th last week at the Mercedes.
Rory
Sabbatini finished 17th last week at the Mercedes, withdrew from
the Target Challenge saying he had knee problems.
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Who to Watch for at the Mercedes-Benz Championship:
Best Bets:
| Jim Furyk | |||||||||||
| 2007 | '06 | '05 | '04 | '03 | '02 | '01 | '00 | '99 | '98 | '97 | '96 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T4 | T7 | T33 | Cut | T33 | T7 | T14 | T39 | T19 | T21 | T2 | Win |
Full Sony Open in Hawaii record
Hits lots of greens and putts great on Bermuda. Comes to a course that he has had a lot of success on plus he had a good finish last week.
| Steve Stricker | |||||||||||
| 2007 | '06 | '05 | '04 | '03 | '02 | '01 | '00 | '99 | '98 | '97 | '96 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T4 | - | - | - | - | Cut | - | T14 | - | T7 | T51 | 3 |
Full Sony Open in Hawaii record
Comes into this event hot for his last 36 holes of golf at the Mercedes, plus has had good success on this course.
| K.J. Choi | |||||||||||
| 2007 | '06 | '05 | '04 | '03 | '02 | '01 | '00 | '99 | '98 | '97 | '96 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T4 | T13 | - | - | T56 | T7 | T29 | Cut | - | - | - | - |
Full Sony Open in Hawaii record
Good finish last year and in 2001 at this event, he had a strong finish last week in Kapalua .
Best of the rest:
| Stephen Ames | |||||||||||
| 2007 | '06 | '05 | '04 | '03 | '02 | '01 | '00 | '99 | '98 | '97 | '96 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| WD | - | - | T8 | - | T7 | T14 | T64 | - | - | - | - |
Full Sony Open in Hawaii record
Played good at Mercedes and has played well at Waialae
| Vijay Singh | |||||||||||
| 2007 | '06 | '05 | '04 | '03 | '02 | '01 | '00 | '99 | '98 | '97 | '96 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T34 | 6 | Win | T10 | T20 | - | T22 | T19 | T38 | - | - | T8 |
Full Sony Open in Hawaii record
It will be interesting to see how he plays this week, poor start last week but finished strongly. Good record at Waialae, is 40 under in last 20 rounds.
| Angel Cabrera | |||||||||||
| 2007 | '06 | '05 | '04 | '03 | '02 | '01 | '00 | '99 | '98 | '97 | '96 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | Playing in his 1st Mercedes | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
His length is what makes him tough to beat, shouldn't have problem with the rough since he is so strong.
| Aaron Baddeley | |||||||||||
| 2007 | '06 | '05 | '04 | '03 | '02 | '01 | '00 | '99 | '98 | '97 | '96 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cut | T53 | Cut | T15 | 2 | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Full Sony Open in Hawaii record
Good putter and does well on Bermuda, he could be a good sleeper pick.
| Charles Howell III | |||||||||||
| 2007 | '06 | '05 | '04 | '03 | '02 | '01 | '00 | '99 | '98 | '97 | '96 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T2 | T53 | T3 | T27 | T15 | T4 | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Full Sony Open in Hawaii record
Three top-five in six starts, good finish on the weekend at Kapalua should help him do well this week.
| Robert Allenby | |||||||||||
| 2007 | '06 | '05 | '04 | '03 | '02 | '01 | '00 | '99 | '98 | '97 | '96 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| T8 | - | Cut | - | T4 | T23 | T29 | T39 | Cut | - | - | - |
Full Sony Open in Hawaii record
Always plays well in west coast events, which includes Hawaii where he has two top-ten's in this event.
Longshots that could come through:
| Brandt Snedeker | |||||||||||
| 2007 | '06 | '05 | '04 | '03 | '02 | '01 | '00 | '99 | '98 | '97 | '96 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cut | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Full Sony Open in Hawaii record
He could be a big surprise this week. The course is suited for his game.
| Jason Day | |||||||||||
| 2007 | '06 | '05 | '04 | '03 | '02 | '01 | '00 | '99 | '98 | '97 | '96 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | Playing in his 1st Sony | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
Cocky kid that should have a great year, anyone that comes out and says he wants to beat Tiger is a hero in a lot of folks eyes.
Not a good choice this week:
| Daniel Chopra | |||||||||||
| 2007 | '06 | '05 | '04 | '03 | '02 | '01 | '00 | '99 | '98 | '97 | '96 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| - | Playing in his 1st Sony | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
As much as his length was an advantage last week, this week it's a different story as he comes to a course that his weak part of his game, accuracy will hinder him going for a Hawaiian slam.
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