oddschecker looks at whether Cameron Smith can emulate the feat of his record score predecessor Ernie Els at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
"Being a leader is not easy, with restless sleeps. I feel like I spent a lot of time looking at the ceiling."
The sort of comments that might stop you from backing repeat success for record-breaking PGA Tour golfer Cameron Smith at this week's Sony Open.
The Australian claimed last week's Sentry Tournament of Champions title with a winning score of 34-under, the lowest 72-hole score in PGA Tour history.
Smith, alongside both his nearest challengers Jon Rahm (33-under) and Matt Jones (32-under), eclipsed a record held by Ernie Els since the January 2003 Mercedes Championships in Hawaii.
How did the 'Big Easy' fare the following week?
The answer is he beat Australian Aaron Baddeley in a play-off to record back-to-back wins, giving hope to those backing Smith to replicate Els' Hawaii swing double.
Aside from the obvious hot form of short-priced 10/1 favourite Smith, already a winner of this event in 2020, oddschecker golf expert Niall Lyons has picked out some other key trends to consider for your tournament bets.
He suggested looking out for those with a tournament already under their belt in 2022, while nine of the last 10 winners have then finished inside the top 50 in strokes gained (SG) putting for the season.
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Previous Winners:
- 2021: Kevin Na
- 2020: Cameron Smith
- 2019: Matt Kuchar
- 2018: Patton Kizzire
- 2017: Justin Thomas
Where can I watch it on TV?
Featured groups coverage of the Sony Open begins on the 13th of January at 17:00pm UK time on Sky Sports Golf.
Tee Times:
| Tee | Time | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 07:10 AM | Brian Harman | Kramer Hickok | Hank Lebioda |
| 10 | 07:10 AM | Tom Hoge | Denny McCarthy | Denny McCarthy |
| 1 | 07:20 AM | Cameron Percy | Sepp Straka | Roger Sloan |
| 10 | 07:20 AM | Andrew Putnam | Russell Knox | Vaughn Taylor |
| 1 | 07:30 AM | Brendan Steele | Parker McLachlin | Harry Higgs |
| 10 | 07:30 AM | Keegan Bradley | Brian Stuard | Maverick McNealy |
| 1 | 07:40 AM | Hudson Swafford | Tyler Duncan | Kevin Chappell |
| 10 | 07:40 AM | Jim Herman | Martin Trainer | Brandt Snedeker |
| 1 | 07:50 AM | Si Woo Kim | Brian Gay | Patton Kizzire |
| 10 | 07:50 AM | Branden Grace | Brendon Todd | Keith Mitchell |
| 1 | 08:00 AM | K.H. Lee | J.T. Poston | Wesley Bryan |
| 10 | 08:00 AM | Abraham Ancer | Harris English | Billy Horschel |
| 1 | 08:10 AM | Ryan Palmer | Adam Long | Jim Furyk |
| 10 | 08:10 AM | Hideki Matsuyama | Kevin Kisner | Webb Simpson |
| 1 | 08:20 AM | Erik van Rooyen | Richy Werenski | Michael Thompson |
| 10 | 08:20 AM | Bo Van Pelt | Kelly Kraft | Adam Schenk |
| 1 | 08:30 AM | David Lipsky | Sahith Theegala | Austin Smotherman |
| 10 | 08:30 AM | Aaron Rai | Joshua Creel | Takumi Kanaya |
| 1 | 08:40 AM | Michael Gligic | Nick Hardy | Chad Ramey |
| 10 | 08:40 AM | Cameron Young | Callum Tarren | Andy Ogletree |
| 1 | 08:50 AM | Trey Mullinax | Brandon Wu | Jared Sawada |
| 10 | 08:50 AM | Taylor Pendrith | Paul Barjon | Peter Jung |
| 1 | 09:00 AM | Alex Smalley | Dawie van der Walt | Kevin Carll |
| 10 | 09:00 AM | Stephan Jaeger | Jared Wolfe | Koichiro Ishika |
| 1 | 11:50 AM | Ryan Armour | Jerry Kelly | Scott Gutschewski |
| 10 | 11:50 AM | Peter Malnati | Chesson Hadley | J.J. Spaun |
| 1 | 12:00 PM | Kyle Stanley | Camilo Villegas | John Huh |
| 10 | 12:00 PM | Bill Haas | Beau Hossler | Christiaan Bezuidenhout |
| 1 | 12:10 PM | Satoshi Kodaira | Rory Sabbatini | Mark Hubbard |
| 10 | 12:10 PM | Austin Cook | Ryan Moore | Chris Kirk |
| 1 | 12:20 PM | Lucas Glover | Joel Dahmen | Nate Lashley |
| 10 | 12:20 PM | Seamus Power | Cam Davis | Charles Howell III |
| 1 | 12:30 PM | Matt Kuchar | Jimmy Walker | Luke Donald |
| 10 | 12:30 PM | Stewart Cink | Corey Conners | Graeme McDowell |
| 1 | 12:40 PM | Sungjae Im | Marc Leishman | Matt Jones |
| 10 | 12:40 PM | Jason Kokrak | Robert Streb | Zach Johnson |
| 1 | 12:50 PM | Cameron Smith | Talor Gooch | Kevin Na |
| 10 | 12:50 PM | Sung Kang | Kevin Tway | William McGirt |
| 1 | 01:00 PM | Russell Henley | Emiliano Grillo | Henrik Norlander |
| 10 | 01:00 PM | Bo Hoag | Jim Knous | Greyson Sigg |
| 1 | 01:10 PM | Max McGreevy | David Skinns | Keita Nakajima |
| 10 | 01:10 PM | Adam Svensson | Hayden Buckley | Justin Lower |
| 1 | 01:20 PM | Curtis Thompson | Brett Drewitt | Chan Kim |
| 10 | 01:20 PM | Joseph Bramlett | Kurt Kitayama | Rikuya Hoshino |
| 1 | 01:30 PM | Ben Kohles | Andrew Novak | Brent Grant |
| 10 | 01:30 PM | Chase Seiffert | Davis Riley | Haotong Li |
| 1 | 01:40 PM | Vince Whaley | Seth Reeves | BJ Doucett |
| 10 | 01:40 PM | Lee Hodges | Dylan Wu | Garrett Okamura |
