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The 2024 Sony Open is set to tee off at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu on Thursday, January 11. Ahead of the event, the Hawaiian tournament organizers have stated that they are expecting big crowds this weekend. According to them, the PGA Tour event will get some 60,000 to 70,000 spectators over the four days.
The Sony Open in Hawaii is the second event of the new PGA Tour season. The season opener, The Sentry 2024, had a decent crowd. Now, the 2024 Sony Open organizers are optimistic the event will tee off smoothly with an improved footfall. They are also keeping a close eye on the forecast, which expects cloudy weather.
Speaking ahead of the 2024 Sony Open, tournament director Ray Stosik said, as quoted by Hawaii News Now:
“The pros that are here already here (at Honolulu) are saying that this is probably the best they’ve ever seen it, so we’re excited because we can control a lot of things, but natural rain is so much better than brackish water that has a little bit of salt content to it. So we’re real excited for the quality of the course this year.”
It is pertinent to note that the cloudy weather isn’t expected to dampen visitor numbers. As per claims, the event will have at least 60,000 spectators, which is more than double the tickets sold here during the pandemic.
The 2024 Sony Open Round 1 tee times
Round 1 of the Sony Open in Hawaii is set to tee off on Thursday, January 11, at 12:10 pm ET. The event in Honolulu will feature a 144-player field competing for the $7.9 million prize on offer. PGA Tour’s big-name players like Ludvig Aberg, Brian Harman, Matt Fitzpatrick and Tyrrell Hatton will be among the top contenders.
The event features 20 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking and will be highlighted by reigning champion Si Woo Kim. The pairing of Denny McCarthy, Alex Noren and Taylor Montgomery will take the first tee at 12:10 pm ET. The trio of Aaron Rai, Callum Tarre and Austin Eckroat will follow suit at 12:20 pm.
Meanwhile, Matt Fitzpatrick will tee off at 12:50 pm with Brian Harman and Justin Rose. Defending champion Si Woo Kim will tee off at 1:00 pm on the 10th tee with last week’s The Sentry champion Chris Kirk and 2021 Masters winner Hideki Matsuyama.
2024’s most promising name, Ludvig Aberg, will take the late tee at 5:40 pm. Sahith Theegala and Akshay Bhatia will join him. The grouping of Jacob Bridgeman, Parker Coody and Rintaro Nakano will take the last tee off of Day 1 at 6:40 pm ET.
