The PGA Tour will host 144 of the best golfers in the world at Waialae Country Club in Honolulu for the 2022 Sony Open, which tees off Thursday at 12:10 p.m. ET. Cameron Smith will be hoping to keep up the momentum in Hawaii. Smith won the Sentry Tournament of Champions last week with a record-setting performance, and he set his sights on Waialae, where he won the 2020 Sony Open. He'll be one of 10 past champions in the 2022 Sony Open field and the highest-ranked player (No. 10 in the Official World Golf Ranking) after Bryson DeChambeau dropped out.
DeChambeau dropped out with a wrist injury to make Smith the new 11-1 favorite in the 2022 Sony Open odds from Caesars Sportsbook. Kevin Na is the defending champion of the Sony Open, but the latest PGA Tour odds list him as a 30-1 long shot to repeat. Before finalizing any 2022 Sony Open picks, be sure to see the PGA golf predictions and projected leaderboard from the proven computer model at SportsLine.
SportsLine's proprietary model, built by DFS pro Mike McClure, has been red-hot since the PGA Tour resumed in June of 2020. In fact, it's up almost $10,000 on its best bets since that point, nailing tournament after tournament.
Earlier this season at the 2021 World Wide Technology Championship at Mayakoba, the model was all over Viktor Hovland (18-1) winning his third PGA Tour title.
At the 2021 Open Championship, McClure's best bets included Collin Morikawa winning outright even though he was listed as a massive 40-1 long shot. He was also all over Daniel Berger (+220) and Emiliano Grillo (+700) finishing inside the top-20. McClure's best bets netted over $2,200 at the 2021 Open Championship.
In addition, McClure's model was all over Jon Rahm's (10-1) first career major championship victory at the 2021 U.S. Open. Rahm was two strokes off the lead heading into the weekend, but the model still projected him as the winner. And at the 2021 Masters, McClure nailed Rahm's (+250) top-five finish in his best bets, as well as Corey Conners' (+550) top-10 showing.
This same model has also nailed a whopping seven majors entering the weekend. Anyone who has followed it has seen massive returns.
Now that the 2022 Sony Open field is locked, SportsLine simulated the event 10,000 times, and the results were surprising. Head to SportsLine now to see the projected 2022 Sony Open leaderboard.
The model's top 2022 Sony Open predictions
One major surprise the model is calling for at the 2022 Sony Open: Hideki Matsuyama, a seven-time PGA Tour champion and one of the top favorites, stumbles and doesn't even crack the top five. The 29-year-old has already been victorious this season, finishing on top of the leaderboard at the Zozo Championship in October. He's also coming off a strong showing last week at the Sentry Tournament of Champions, finishing T-13.
However, Matsuyama has struggled mightily with his putter this season, ranking 205th in strokes gained: putting (-2.05), 174th in total putting (284.8) and 156h in one-putt percentage (37.78). In addition, Matsuyama hasn't had success at Waialae Country Club, finishing T-27 or worse in three of his last four starts at the coastal venue, which doesn't bode well for his chances to win this week. He's not a strong pick to win it all and there are far better values in the Sony Open 2022 field.
Another surprise: Russell Henley, a 33-1 long shot, makes a strong run at the Sony Open 2022 title. He has a much better chance to win it all than his odds imply, so he's a target for anyone looking for a huge payday. The 32-year-old is currently the No. 56 player in the Official World Golf Ranking and the three-time PGA Tour winner is returning to the course where he jump started his career nine years ago.
Henley won the 2013 Sony Open by three shots over Tim Clark to capture his first career win on the PGA Tour and he's had three other top-20 finishes at Waialae Country Club since. Henley has top-25 finishes in four of his last five starts to end 2021, and this is a course where his ball striking should be valuable. He currently ranks fourth on the PGA Tour in strokes gained on approach per round (1.005).
How to make 2022 Sony Open picks
The model is also targeting three other golfers with odds of 30-1 or higher who will make surprising runs. Anyone who backs these long shots could hit it big. You can only see them here.
So who will win the Sony Open 2022? And which long shots stun the golfing world? Check out the odds below and then visit SportsLine to see the projected 2022 Sony Open leaderboard, all from the model that's nailed seven golf majors and is up almost $10,000 since the restart.
2022 Sony Open odds
Cameron Smith 11-1
Webb Simpson 16-1
Sungjae Im 16-1
Hideki Matsuyama 20-1
Marc Leishman 22-1
Corey Conners 28-1
Kevin Na 30-1
Russell Henley 33-1
Abraham Ancer 33-1
Harris English 35-1
Kevin Kisner 35-1
Talor Gooch 35-1
Seamus Power 40-1
Matt Jones 40-1
Billy Horschel 40-1
Jason Kokrak 40-1
Cam Davis 50-1
Si-Woo Kim 50-1
Joel Dahmen 50-1
Christiaan Bezuidenhout 50-1
Maverick McNealy 50-1
Charles Howell 55-1
Brendan Steele 60-1
Brendon Todd 60-1
Denny McCarthy 66-1
Ryan Palmer 66-1
Chris Kirk 66-1
Brian Harman 66-1
Matt Kuchar 66-1
Keith Mitchell 66-1
Erik Van Rooyen 66-1
Keegan Bradley 70-1
Aaron Rai 80-1
Branden Grace 80-1
Takumi Kanaya 80-1
Patton Kizzire 80-1
Tom Hoge 80-1
Lucas Herbert 80-1
Stewart Cink 80-1
Chez Reavie 80-1
Emiliano Grillo 80-1
Adam Long 90-1
Kyoung-Hoon Lee 90-1
Henrik Norlander 100-1
Brian Stuard 100-1
Zach Johnson 100-1
Robert Streb 100-1
Taylor Pendrith 125-1
Alex Smalley 125-1
Lucas Glover 125-1
Chad Ramey 125-1
Stephan Jaeger 125-1
Hayden Buckley 125-1
Hudson Swafford 125-1
Russell Knox 125-1
John Huh 125-1
Brandt Snedeker 150-1
Hank Lebioda 150-1
Tyler Duncan 150-1
Greyson Sigg 150-1
Adam Schenk 150-1
Rory Sabbatini 150-1
Pat Perez 150-1
J.J. Spaun 150-1
Vincent Whaley 150-1
Michael Thompson 150-1
Cameron Young 150-1
Harry Higgs 150-1
Scott Piercy 150-1
Kramer Hickok 150-1
Max McGreevy 150-1
Kyle Stanley 175-1
Jim Furyk 175-1
Mark Hubbard 175-1
Rikuya Hoshino 200-1
Chan Kim 200-1
Andrew Putnam 200-1
Graeme McDowell 200-1
Ryan Moore 200-1
Kevin Tway 200-1
Keita Nakajima 200-1
Ryan Armour 200-1
Nick Hardy 200-1
Camilo Villegas 200-1
Jim Herman 200-1
Davis Riley 200-1
Andrew Novak 200-1
Sepp Straka 200-1
Sahith Theegala 200-1
