Sony Open in Hawaii Recap

Results

Summary

Jimmy Walker broke out from a pack of contenders that at one point featured 14 golfers within 2 shots of the lead, and 5 tied for the lead. His bogey free final round of 63 included a final 9 of 30, despite not birdieing the easy par 5 18th hole (his only 5 of the day), as he had on each of the previous 3 days.

What We Learned

  • Guan Tian-LONG appears to have hit puberty, adding about 15 yards off the tee. He easily MC’d.
  • John Daly lives! He made the cut on the number, then followed it with 64-70 to finish T32. Good for John.
  • Chris Kirk is emerging as a legitimate Ryder Cup threat.
  • Harris English is as good as on the Ryder Cup team.
  • Let’s also point out that we predicted Jimmy Walker would be on the 2014 Ryder Cup team before he won this thing.
Harris English and Jimmy Walker are playing together today. Would not be shocked to see them as teammates on the Ryder Cup team in September



— No Laying Up (@NoLayingUp) January 11, 2014

  • Has anyone ever won twice in a Ryder Cup year and not made the America team? I may look into this later this week.
  • Vijay Singh wanted to play in the Champions Tour event in Hawaii next week, and was denied. #FinchyTrollingHard

How Our Picks Fared

In our preview piece, we suggested the following players for your fantasy lineups, or your bets. Here is how they fared:

  1. Jimmy Walker – 1st (30/1 odds)
  2. Chris Kirk – 3rd
  3. Charles Howell III – T8
  4. Pat Perez – T8
  5. Chris Stroud – T20
  6. Roberto Castro – MC
  7. Rory Sabbatini – MC
  8. Tim Clark – WD (injury)

NLU Shot Tracker of the Week

We’re hard on Mike Weir, so it’s only fair to give him a shout out for going HAM on the 18th hole on Thursday. When you’re clearly going to MC (had to get one jab in) fear is a relative thing. So why not hit a 3 wood out of the bunker from 235? The fact he attempted the shot was enough to gather our attention. The fact that he stuck it to 3 feet earns him a full-on NLU salute.

Phil also approves.


NLU Oil Spill of the week (brought to you buy BP)

Kirk Nelson, son of Craig T. Nelson (let us have this one), made an absolute mess of the 1st hole on Friday. Causing his father to disown him.