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After the first event of the decade, the Sentry Tournament of Champions, ended in a three-man playoff won by Justin Thomas, the second leg of the two-week Hawaii Swing takes us back to a very familiar spot. Hawaii Country Club in Honolulu is staging this tournament for a 55th straight year and Thomas will be seeking to complete a double double. The American landed both Hawaii events in 2017 and is the favourite to pull off a repeat this time following his dramatic win at Kapalua on Sunday. The two venues – Waialae and the Plantation Course – are vastly different. This week we have a short, tightish par 70 with doglegs compared to the wide open and lengthy test of the Sentry TOC. In addition, this is a full-field event compared to the winners’ only 34-man field of last week. And yet, it’s fairly common for players to excel in both events. There are some common traits and one of those, the wind, is likely to be a factor again after the strong gusts at Kapalua. With that in mind, the Bermuda greens are likely to fun fairly slower than average which again gives it some common ground with last week. For some in the field, this could be their first start for a while and the stats suggest it definitely helps to have played in the previous week’s Sentry TOC. Angles to consider 1/ Recent winning form The Sony Open is associated with being one of the first events of a new campaign but since wraparound seasons were introduced it’s already quite a long way into the schedule. Notably, four of the last six winners had already won that season so recent winning form looks really important. 2/ Played in Hawaii the previous week Of course, part of this stat is down to them being good players who earned the right to play the Sentry TOC by winning. But the bottom line is that 15 of the last 21 Sony Open winners had teed it up in Hawaii the week before. Kuchar took the current streak to six in a row last year. 3/ Greens In Regulation Past winners haven’t had particularly strong Driving Accuracy or Driving Distance figures but hitting lots of the small greens is a key element. Last year’s winner Matt Kuchar highlighted what was already a trend by finishing 1st for GIR during his victory week. Selections The above angles have been used to create a shortlist from which the following players are selected. Tyler Duncan The 30-year-old American secured his first breakthrough win at the RSM Classic in late November and Sea Island has some definite similarities with this week’s venue. Duncan played in last week’s Sentry TOC, finishing tied 19th, while he’s ranked in the top four for greens in regulation in two of his last four starts. A pair of 66s in rounds two and three at Waialae last year shows he can play this week’s course. Sebastian Munoz The Colombian also shed his maiden tag with victory in the Sanderson Farms Championship early on in this 2019/20 season. Prior to that he was seventh at Greenbrier (same course designer as this week) while a top three at the RSM Classic (seventh for greens in regulation) and tied 10th on his Sony Open debut last year shows he can excel on short courses with Bermuda greens. He shook off some rust with T17 in last week’s Sentry TOC. Lanto Griffin Completing the trio of recent winners is Lanto Griffin, who landed the Houston Open in October. Before that victory, he’d reeled off a quartet of top 20s while he added tied 13th in last week’s Sentry Tournament of Champions, ranking sixth for GIR. Griffin played this event for the first and only time in 2018, making the cut with rounds of 66 and 67 along the way. Tips: 1-2; +11.00pts 1pt e.w. Tyler Duncan at 100/1 (Betfair, Paddy Power, Boylesports 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8) mc 1pt e.w. Sebastian Munoz at 60/1 (Betfair, Paddy Power, Boylesports 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8) mc 1pt e.w. Lanto Griffin at 80/1 (Betfair, Paddy Power 1/5 1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8) 7th
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