John Nelson's golf betting tips: Sony Open preview and bets

John Nelson's Sony Open Golf Tips

Matthew Fitzpatrick 14/1 - 3pts EW 8 places

Corey Conners 30/1 - 2pts EW 8 places

Sahith Theegala 33/1 - 2pts EW 8 places

Benny An 35/1 - 2pts EW 8 places

Lucas Glover 55/1 - 0.5pts EW 8 places

Nate Lashley 150/1 - 0.5pts EW 8 places

Golf is truly back! Last week saw an excellent tournament where Chris Kirk out-battled Theegala to win his first Sentry event. We now move on to the Sony Open where we have 144 players committed. I've got to welcome back my boy Willy Z, plus plenty more notable names this week.

Course

WAIALAE COUNTRY CLUB

Par 70, 7,044 yards, designed by Seth Raynor and restored by Tom Doak in 2017/2018, it's a coastal resort, with Bermuda grass fairways and rough, the greens are Tiffdwarf Bermuda, there is water in play on 5 holes, scoring will be swayed by the wind, so lets see how bad it gets, hitting fairways is a plus, the rough is hard to play out of and can sit down, also approach play and putting is key to taking this.

Key Stats To Consider

SG App

SG TTG

SG Putt Bermuda

Proximity Gained 125-150 And 175-200

Good Wind Player

Past Ten Winners

2023 SI WOO KIM -18

2022 HIDEKI MATSUYAMA -23

2021 KEVIN NA -21

2020 CAM SMITH -11

2019 MATT KUCHAR -22

2018 PATTON KIZZIRE -17

2017 JUSTIN THOMAS -27

2016 FABIAN GOMEZ -20

2015 JIMMY WALKER -23

2014 JIMMY WALKER -17

Correlating Courses

WWT - El Camaleon

RBC Heritage - Harbour Town

RSM -Sea Island Resort

Wyndham - Sedgefield CC

Barbasol - Keene Trace GC

Weather

The current forecast for Thursday is sunny with highs of 24 with the wind at 13mph, Friday is raining and 22 with the wind at 20mph, Saturday is mixed with rain and bright spells and 24c with 23mph winds, Sunday is a sunny 24c with light winds of 9mph.

Matthew Fitzpatrick 14/1 - 3pts EW 8 places

Fitz is going from strength to strength, he's posting some good numbers, Matt won in October and has been solid since then with him finishing T27th-T4th-T14th, his stats read,53nd TTG- 55th OTT-116 APP- 31st ARG-11th PUTT, Fitz has shown a liking to playing in the wind with him winning at Harbour Town and Alfred Dunhill links, and placing in other seaside resorts, he's got plenty more in the tank and will win many more on the tour.

Corey Conners 30/1 - 2pts EW 8 places

Back to one of my old favourites, this laid-back Canadian never looks flustered and has a swing to die for, Corey has started the new year with a 33rd at the Sentry, most importantly he gained 6.7 TTG and 2.3 APP, and on the back end of last year his numbers were good, I must specify that putting wasn't so hot, so we're trusting him to get the flat stick working again, Conners is well at home here in Waialae Country club, he's played here five times and 39th was the worst followed by 3rd-12th-11th-12th, Corey is 11th SG OTT and can put himself in a good position to attack these pins, especially with the short game he posseses.

Sahith Theegala 33/1 - 2pts EW 8 places

This boy has been a revelation since he hit the tour and all I've seen is improvement in all areas of his game, it took a while to get his first win, which was in the QBE shootout paired with Tom Hoge and then the Fortinet Championship last year, this year nearly started with a bang after finishing second to Kirk in the Sentry, Sahith's stats show his progress as they read, 64 TTG- 134TH OTT- 69TH APP- 22ND ARG- 17TH PUTT, Theegala has only played the Sony once finishing 48th but this boy has the skill set to get the job done.

Benny An 35/1 - 2pts EW 8 places

Benny is back and looking at his best again, the lads been on the tour since 2010, a pretty long time with plenty of ups and downs, An has four pro wins but is still a maiden on the PGA, with a lot of close calls along the way, most notably the 2018 Memorial where he lost a three-way playoff, late 2023 he came close again finishing T3rd at the Genesis Scottish Open and T2nd at the Wyndham championship which correlates nicely with the Sony, Benny has only played here once finishing 12th, and with last weeks 4th at the Sentry I'm expecting him to excel and take his maiden win.

Lucas Glover 55/1 - 0.5pts EW 8 places

There is still life in the old dog, seems like he has been around forever, Glover has been on the tour since 2004, but that didn't stop him from taking two wins last year, the St Jude and the Wyndham, he also just missed out making the Ryder cup team, 2023 was a revival year and I can see him taking another title this year, the 44-year-old game is perfect for this course, Glover has gained 4.7 strokes on TTG and 3.4 APP the last 5 comps, he also finished 5th here in 2022 when he wasn't at his best, he's worthy of another win and this could be the place to get it.

Nate Lashley 150/1 - 0.5pts EW 8 places

A final longshot call is taken on Nate Lashley, it's been a while between drinks, he last won in 2019 at the Rocket Mortgage. Nate finished 7th here in 2023 and previously struggled here missing several cuts, he's been playing ok and going under the radar, he had 9 top 30s and only had 5 missed cuts last year, we're taking a chance he's refreshed and ready to hit the ground running.

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