{"id":16260,"date":"2026-01-14T17:00:51","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T17:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/?post_type=article&p=16260"},"modified":"2026-01-15T15:08:37","modified_gmt":"2026-01-15T15:08:37","slug":"sony-open-one-and-done-strategy-starting-the-year-strong","status":"publish","type":"article","link":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/article\/sony-open-one-and-done-strategy-starting-the-year-strong\/","title":{"rendered":"2026 Sony Open One and Done Strategy: Starting the Year Strong"},"content":{"rendered":"

You can’t win your pool this week, you certainly can’t lose it, but it’s awfully nice to start with a decent chunk of money won here in Hawaii.\u00a0 This is a smaller purse ($9.1 million, $1.638 million to the winner), but still a nice feather in your cap and a nice way to start if you can find the top prize.<\/p>\n

Every one and done is different.\u00a0 Hell, some don’t even start until after football is over, but for the purposes of this article, we will use the rules of the Mayo Cup.\u00a0 No double-stamps, no bonuses for majors, no picking alt-field events.\u00a0 Just every event from here until the BMW in August.<\/p>\n

This isn’t the strongest field, but there are some bigger names.\u00a0 As always, I’d suggest you take a look at the rules for your particular pool, count how many golfers you’ll need to use this year, then make a list of how you’d rank the top golfers, making a list about twice as big as the number you’ll need.\u00a0 I tend to divide my list into three parts: Guys I’ve saved for the big pots, guys that I’m clearly using, but may be used in a smaller money event, and like 30-40 more names that should be in consideration.\u00a0 This week should be names mostly from the second group.<\/p>\n

Let’s dig in, using the Rabbit Hole<\/a> database:<\/p>\n

Cutmakers<\/h2>\n

Per the norm, sorted out guys who had fewer than 12 starts in the past 18 months and then sorted by cut made percentage.\u00a0 Plenty of the top names here, as it should be.\u00a0 Six of the ten men listed have a win over that time frame as well (funny that one of the major winners in the group isn’t in that category).\u00a0 Notable are Russell Henley<\/a>‘s favorite, top 5, and top 10 percentages.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Driving Accuracy<\/h2>\n

With the less-than-forgiving landing areas and reports that the rough is up to 4″ this year, finding the fairway is going to be important as ever.\u00a0 Again, 18 months with small samples sorted out via the Rabbit Hole, sorted by driving accuracy numbers.\u00a0 My guy Michael Brennan<\/a> doesn’t have a huge sample, but looks dangerous as hell if he can keep finding the fairway at that clip while driving the ball 310 in the air.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Approach Prowess<\/h2>\n

Good ball strikers\/irons players win everywhere, but this is definitely a second-shot course where scoring will depend on the approach more than the average tour stop.\u00a0 A couple of fun names mixed among the betting favorites on this one.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Bermuda Putting<\/h2>\n

Finally, this is not one to base your whole decision off of (putting never is), but it’s nice to see who’s been hot with the flatstick and who has done it well on Bermuda.\u00a0 Naturally, Denny leads the way.<\/p>\n

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Sony Open One and Done Suggestions<\/h2>\n

So, who’s the pick then?\u00a0 I think Henley is extremely interesting, but for my money, he’s falling into the group of golfers that I’d like to use at an event with a bigger purse, and he’s clearly approaching top 10 status.\u00a0 That said, I’m not going too far down the board chasing a dream.\u00a0 Longshots are for betting; nice safe golfers that are going to be on the first page of the leaderboard Sunday is what I’m after.\u00a0 Not overthinking it this early in the year.<\/p>\n

Shortlist for the Sony Open:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Harry Hall<\/a>
\nJ.J. Spaun<\/a>
\nBen Griffin<\/a>
\nDenny McCarthy<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Sony Open One and Done strategy featuring top player options, Waialae course fit, and smart ways to gain an early edge.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":16261,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"default","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":""},"bs_types":[14,15],"bs_tags":[163,142],"class_list":["post-16260","article","type-article","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","bs_type-betting","bs_type-fantasy","bs_tag-one-and-done","bs_tag-sony-open"],"acf":false,"featured_image":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Rico-Hoey.jpg","tags_list":[{"id":163,"name":"One and Done","slug":"one-and-done"},{"id":142,"name":"Sony Open","slug":"sony-open"}],"types_list":[{"id":14,"name":"Betting"},{"id":15,"name":"Fantasy"}],"bs_author":{"name":"Andy Molitor","profile_image":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/Andy-Molitor-150x150.jpg"},"bs_term_name":null,"is_paid":"false","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article\/16260","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/article"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/article"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16261"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16260"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"bs_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bs_types?post=16260"},{"taxonomy":"bs_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/api.betspertsgolf.com\/raw-forum\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/bs_tags?post=16260"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}