Sony Championship Hawaii on arvau

Wikipedia / Sony Championship Hawaii

The Sony Championship Hawaii (formerly known as the Hawaiian Open and the Sony Open in Hawaii) is a professional golf tournament that is an event on the PGA Tour Champions. It is contested on the second week of January at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu, Hawaii. The tournament was formerly an event on the main PGA Tour from its inception in 1965 to 2026.

History

Originally a mid-autumn event for its first five editions, it was skipped in 1970 as it moved to its winter slot in early February 1971. Currently, it is held in mid-January and is the first full-field event of the calendar year, following the Tournament of Champions on Maui. The front and back nines of Waialae are switched for the PGA Tour event, finishing at the dogleg ninth hole.

The first lead sponsor was United Airlines in 1991, succeeded by current sponsor Sony in 1999. There have been five multiple winners of the tournament, all two-time champions: Hubert Green, Corey Pavin, Lanny Wadkins, Ernie Els, and Jimmy Walker. All have won major championships. The tournament is currently organized by Friends of Hawaii Charities.

In 1983, forty-year-old Isao Aoki became Japan's first winner on the PGA Tour. He holed out a wedge shot for an eagle-3 on the 72nd hole to beat Jack Renner by a stroke.

In 1998, John Huston broke the then PGA Tour scoring record to par. He shot 28 under par, beating Ben Hogan's record originally set in 1945.

The Sony Open gained attention for granting four consecutive sponsor invitations (PGA Tour Exemption #11) to Michelle Wie, the first in 2004 when she was age 14. She missed the cut in all four appearances, and did not receive one of the four available sponsor exemptions in 2008. One of the invitations went to Alex Ching, a 17-year-old former high school classmate of Wie.

In 2007, amateur Tadd Fujikawa become the second youngest player ever (16 years, 4 days) to make a 36-hole cut in an official PGA Tour event. His achievement was highlighted by a eagle putt on his 36th hole, Waialae's 551-yard par-5 18th. Incidentally, the PGA Tour's 2006 media guide shows that the youngest player ever to make a 36-hole cut in an official Tour event was Bob Panasik (15 years, 8 months, and 20 days) in 1957 at the Canadian Open, 3 months younger than Fujikawa.

Preparations for the 2018 Sony Open were briefly disrupted by a false emergency alert stating that a ballistic missile had been launched toward Hawaii. Staff members reportedly attempted to take shelter in the players' locker room, the media center was ordered to evacuate, and several players posted messages on social media about the erroneous alert, which was sent to all smartphones in the state. The alert was ultimately determined to have been sent in error. Before the final round, Golf Channel cameramen also staged a walkout.

On April 20, 2026, the PGA Tour announced that the tournament, along with The Sentry in neighboring Maui, would no longer be events on the season schedule. On July 1, 2026, the PGA Tour announced that the tournament would move to the PGA Tour Champions senior circuit, where it would be renamed to the "Sony Championship Hawaii" and feature a $3 million purse.

Winners

Year	Winner	Score	To par	Margin ofvictory	Runner(s)-up	Purse ($)	Winner'sshare ($)	Ref.
Sony Championship Hawaii (PGA Tour Champions)
2027
Sony Open in Hawaii (PGA Tour)
2026	Chris Gotterup	264	−16	2 strokes	Ryan Gerard	9,100,000	1,638,000
2025	Nick Taylor	264	−16	Playoff	Nico Echavarría	8,700,000	1,566,000
2024	Grayson Murray	263	−17	Playoff	An Byeong-hun Keegan Bradley	8,300,000	1,494,000
2023	Kim Si-woo	262	−18	1 stroke	Hayden Buckley	7,900,000	1,422,000
2022	Hideki Matsuyama	257	−23	Playoff	Russell Henley	7,500,000	1,350,000
2021	Kevin Na	259	−21	1 stroke	Chris Kirk Joaquín Niemann	6,600,000	1,188,000
2020	Cameron Smith	269	−11	Playoff	Brendan Steele	6,600,000	1,188,000
2019	Matt Kuchar	258	−22	4 strokes	Andrew Putnam	6,400,000	1,152,000
2018	Patton Kizzire	263	−17	Playoff	James Hahn	6,200,000	1,116,000
2017	Justin Thomas	253	−27	7 strokes	Justin Rose	6,000,000	1,080,000
2016	Fabián Gómez	260	−20	Playoff	Brandt Snedeker	5,800,000	1,044,000
2015	Jimmy Walker (2)	257	−23	9 strokes	Scott Piercy	5,600,000	1,008,000
2014	Jimmy Walker	263	−17	1 stroke	Chris Kirk	5,600,000	1,008,000
2013	Russell Henley	256	−24	3 strokes	Tim Clark	5,600,000	1,008,000
2012	Johnson Wagner	267	−13	2 strokes	Harrison Frazar Charles Howell III Sean O'Hair Carl Pettersson	5,500,000	990,000
2011	Mark Wilson	264	−16	2 strokes	Tim Clark Steve Marino	5,500,000	990,000
2010	Ryan Palmer	265	−15	1 stroke	Robert Allenby	5,500,000	990,000
2009	Zach Johnson	265	−15	2 strokes	Adam Scott David Toms	5,400,000	972,000
2008	K. J. Choi	266	−14	3 strokes	Rory Sabbatini	5,300,000	954,000
2007	Paul Goydos	266	−14	1 stroke	Luke Donald Charles Howell III	5,200,000	936,000
2006	David Toms	261	−19	5 strokes	Chad Campbell Rory Sabbatini	5,100,000	918,000
2005	Vijay Singh	269	−11	1 stroke	Ernie Els	4,800,000	864,000
2004	Ernie Els (2)	262	−18	Playoff	Harrison Frazar	4,800,000	864,000
2003	Ernie Els	264	−16	Playoff	Aaron Baddeley	4,500,000	810,000
2002	Jerry Kelly	266	−14	1 stroke	John Cook	4,000,000	720,000
2001	Brad Faxon	260	−20	4 strokes	Tom Lehman	4,000,000	720,000
2000	Paul Azinger	261	−19	7 strokes	Stuart Appleby	2,900,000	522,000
1999	Jeff Sluman	271	−9	2 strokes	Davis Love III Jeff Maggert Len Mattiace Chris Perry Tommy Tolles	2,600,000	468,000
United Airlines Hawaiian Open (PGA Tour)
1998	John Huston	260	−28	7 strokes	Tom Watson	1,800,000	324,000
1997	Paul Stankowski	271	−17	Playoff	Jim Furyk Mike Reid	1,200,000	216,000
1996	Jim Furyk	277	−11	Playoff	Brad Faxon	1,200,000	216,000
1995	John Morse	269	−19	3 strokes	Tom Lehman Duffy Waldorf	1,200,000	216,000
1994	Brett Ogle	269	−19	1 stroke	Davis Love III	1,200,000	216,000
1993	Howard Twitty	269	−19	4 strokes	Joey Sindelar	1,200,000	216,000
1992	John Cook	265	−23	2 strokes	Paul Azinger	1,200,000	216,000
United Hawaiian Open (PGA Tour)
1991	Lanny Wadkins (2)	270	−18	4 strokes	John Cook	1,100,000	198,000
Hawaiian Open (PGA Tour)
1990	David Ishii	279	−9	1 stroke	Paul Azinger	1,000,000	180,000
1989	Gene Sauers	197	−19	1 stroke	David Ogrin	750,000	135,000
1988	Lanny Wadkins	271	−17	1 stroke	Richard Zokol	600,000	108,000
1987	Corey Pavin (2)	270	−18	Playoff	Craig Stadler	600,000	108,000
1986	Corey Pavin	272	−16	2 strokes	Paul Azinger	500,000	90,000
1985	Mark O'Meara	267	−21	1 stroke	Craig Stadler	500,000	90,000
1984	Jack Renner	271	−17	Playoff	Wayne Levi	500,000	90,000
1983	Isao Aoki	268	−20	1 stroke	Jack Renner	325,000	58,500
1982	Wayne Levi	277	−11	1 stroke	Scott Simpson	325,000	58,500
1981	Hale Irwin	265	−23	6 strokes	Don January	325,000	58,500
1980	Andy Bean	266	−22	3 strokes	Lee Trevino	325,000	58,500
1979	Hubert Green (2)	267	−21	3 strokes	Fuzzy Zoeller	300,000	54,000
1978	Hubert Green	274	−14	Playoff	Billy Kratzert	250,000	50,000
1977	Bruce Lietzke	273	−15	3 strokes	Don January Takashi Murakami	240,000	48,000
1976	Ben Crenshaw	270	−18	4 strokes	Hale Irwin Larry Nelson	230,000	46,000
1975	Gary Groh	274	−14	1 stroke	Al Geiberger	220,000	44,000
1974	Jack Nicklaus	271	−17	3 strokes	Eddie Pearce	220,000	44,000
1973	John Schlee	273	−15	2 strokes	Orville Moody	200,000	40,000
1972	Grier Jones	274	−14	Playoff	Bob Murphy	200,000	40,000
1971	Tom Shaw	273	−15	1 stroke	Miller Barber	200,000	40,000
1970: No tournament
1969	Bruce Crampton	274	−14	4 strokes	Jack Nicklaus	125,000	25,000
1968	Lee Trevino	272	−16	2 strokes	George Archer	125,000	25,000
1967	Dudley Wysong	284	−4	Playoff	Billy Casper	100,000	20,000
1966	Ted Makalena	271	−17	3 strokes	Billy Casper Gay Brewer	42,500	8,500
1965	Gay Brewer	281	−7	Playoff	Bob Goalby	45,000	9,000

Note: Green highlight indicates scoring records.

Previous incarnations recognized by PGA Tour

Year	Player	Score	To par	Winner'sshare ($)
1948	Cary Middlecoff	274	−10	2,000
1947	Dutch Harrison	275	−13	2,000
1929	Craig Wood	289	+1	1,600
1928	Bill Mehlhorn	291

Wikipedia / Sony Championship Hawaii

History

Winners

Records

References

Notes

External links