Harris English had been knocking at the door of his first PGA Tour title since November 2013 for the better part of 16 months, and he finally got it with a victory in the Sentry Tournament of Champions. English led the field in Strokes Gained: Putting (+1.71 strokes gained per round) to shoot 25-under and reward bettors who had 33/1 pre-tournament tickets.
English remains in Hawaii to play the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club. He is the co-second favorite along with Collin Morikawa (T-7 last week) at 14/1. Webb Simpson, the tournament favorite at 12/1, has posted finishes of third (2020) and fourth (2018) for his last two appearances in Honolulu. Daniel Berger started 2021 with a Top 10 finish last week in Maui and slots in at 16/1.
Here are some longer shots who are worth a wager:
Sungjae Im (18/1)
Started off 2021 with a Top 5 finish last week at Kapalua. He led the field last week for SG: Tee-To-Green and ranked sixth for SG: Approach. The putter held him back as he ranked 35th in the field out of 42 players. He is usually better on Bermuda grass greens, so last week looks like it might be an aberration.
Im ended 2020 on very solid form with a T-2 at the Masters for his best finish in a major and also a T-14 at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai, a respectable finish for a young player who has very little experience playing in European Tour events.
Kevin Kisner (30/1)
Finished around mid-pack (T-24) last week, but did close out with a 5-under 68 on Sunday. Kisner is always a good look to back in an event on a short, Par 70 with Bermuda grass greens and has three top 5s at Waialae in his past five appearances, including a T-4 last year.
Lanto Griffin (40/1)
Finished seventh last year. Griffin started to get it going last weekend. He finished T-13 and shot a 6-under 67 in the final round, where he ranked second for SG: Putting.
Brendon Todd (50/1)
One of the straighter hitters on the PGA Tour, Todd ranks second in Driving Accuracy (74.23 percent). He is not one of the longer hitters on tour and his putting (ranking fifth for the week and first for the final round) could only carry him so far on a big, wide track like Kapalua, where he finished T-13. However, a shorter course with Bermuda grass greens is right up Todd’s alley. His three PGA Tour victories have come on setups measuring 7,166 yards, 6,828 yards and 6,987 yards.
Marc Leishman (66/1)
Putted poorly last week and ranked third worst in the field for SG: Putting (-1.27 strokes per round). But he rated eighth for SG: Approach and 11th for SG: Tee-To-Green, en route to a T-24 finish. Leishman has finished Top 10 or better in three of his last seven Sony Open appearances.
Branden Grace (140/1)
Has always been solid on coastal courses, as evident from his win at the 2016 RBC Heritage. He missed 12 cuts in 24 worldwide events in 2020, but 10 of those were after the restart last summer. He did finish T-8 in a good field at the DP World Tour Championship in Dubai to end 2020. Grace was 13th in 2017 in his one Sony Open appearance.