The 2026 PGA Tour season begins not with a star-studded showcase but with something rarer—a field defined by storylines rather than rankings. The Sentry’s cancellation erased Kapalua from the calendar. What remains is Waialae Country Club, a par-70, 7,044-yard layout that rewards precision over power and patience over aggression. The Sony Open now shoulders the weight of a season opener, and its 120-player field carries four names inside the OWGR top 10—Russell Henley, J.J. Spaun, Robert MacIntyre, and Ben Griffin.

No Scottie Scheffler. No Rory McIlroy. No problem. The absence of golf’s two highest-ranked players strips the week of its usual hierarchy. What fills the vacuum is narrative texture: redemption arcs, course specialists, precision artists, and a reigning U.S. Open champion still proving his major wasn’t a mirage. These five names make the case that great golf storytelling doesn’t require a world No. 1—only the right cast.

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Jordan Spieth: The needle-mover

Rankings lie. Attention doesn’t.  Jordan Spieth enters Waialae at OWGR No. 80, his lowest standing in nearly a decade. Yet no player in the field commands more eyeballs. Thirteen PGA Tour victories, three major championships, and a reputation for chaos-and-brilliance golf ensure that cameras follow him regardless of form.

Spieth told Golf Channel in November 2025 at the Crush It! Youth Cup: “I’m healthy. I’m stronger than I’ve been in a long time. I wasn’t able to get things right where I wanted them to be, and now I’ve got five months to get them set in stone.”

Five months have passed. The stone remains untested.

His 2025 campaign promised resurrection but delivered stagnation. A third-place finish at The Sentry in January hinted at progress, yet Spieth managed just four top-10s across the season and finished 62nd in the FedExCup standings. The wrist surgery that was supposed to unlock his swing instead left him searching for answers.

The three-time major champion has made 10 career starts at the Sony Open, logging third-place finishes in both 2016 and 2017. Waialae’s tight fairways and poa annua greens suit his creative short game. The entire field starts cold—no one carries momentum from a canceled Sentry. For once, Spieth doesn’t need to chase Scheffler’s pace. He needs only to rediscover his own.

Hideki Matsuyama: Waialae’s modern master

Some players fit courses the way keys fit locks. Hideki Matsuyama owns Waialae.  The 2021 Masters champion carved his most memorable Tour moment here in 2022. Trailing by five shots entering the final round, Matsuyama scorched the back nine with a 31, forced a playoff, and drained the winning putt. That comeback remains one of the decade’s finest closing-round performances.

Matsuyama’s 2025 season reinforced his elite status. He claimed victory at the Genesis Invitational and added three additional top-10 finishes, maintaining his position inside the OWGR top 20 throughout the year. His iron play—consistently among the Tour’s best—showed no signs of erosion.

Matsuyama enters 2026 ranked 17th in the world, armed with 10 PGA Tour victories and ball-striking that dissects Waialae’s small greens. When the wind whips off the Pacific, precision becomes currency. Few players possess more of it.

Collin Morikawa: The precision surgeon

Waialae doesn’t reward bombers. It rewards architects.  Collin Morikawa, OWGR No. 16, built his career on surgical iron play. Two major championships and six Tour victories by age 28 establish him as one of golf’s most efficient closers. His ball-striking—particularly approach work from 150–200 yards—matches Waialae’s demands like a blueprint matches a building.

The 2025 season tested Morikawa’s patience. Zero victories for the second consecutive year, though he accumulated six top-10 finishes and remained a consistent contender without breaking through. His Strokes Gained: Approach numbers stayed elite; his closing ability did not.

The 2026 season offers Morikawa a reset. After a year without trophies, the Sony Open’s precision-first setup provides an early opportunity to remind the golf world that power isn’t everything. On a course that punishes spray and rewards discipline, Morikawa’s game translates fluently.

Russell Henley: The hottest hand

Form plus history equals danger. Russell Henley enters as the field’s highest-ranked player at OWGR No. 5—a number that would have seemed absurd three years ago. The Georgia native climbed from outside the top 250 to the world’s elite, proving that persistence outlasts talent when talent quits showing up.

Henley’s 2025 season cemented his resurgence. He captured the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, added a runner-up finish at the Travelers Championship, and earned a spot on the U.S. Presidents Cup team. Five top-10s and over $6 million in earnings marked a career-best campaign.

Henley won this event in 2013 as a rookie, announcing his arrival with a four-shot victory. Twelve years later, he returns as the favorite on paper. Five PGA Tour victories and a career-best ranking suggest a player peaking at 35. Waialae rewarded his precision once before. It may do so again.

J.J. Spaun: The Cinderella Champion

Some stories write themselves. J.J. Spaun’s required a rewrite.  The 2025 U.S. Open champion nearly walked away from professional golf in 2024, as missed cuts piled up and his confidence eroded. Then Oakmont happened. Spaun outlasted the game’s best on one of its hardest stages, capturing his first major and silencing every doubt that had accumulated over a decade of grinding.

That U.S. Open triumph transformed Spaun’s season. He followed Oakmont with two additional top-10 finishes, earned a Ryder Cup roster spot, and climbed from outside the top 100 to sixth in the world rankings. The grinder became a proven winner.

Now ranked sixth in the world, Spaun arrives in Hawaii seeking validation. One major doesn’t define a career; sustained excellence does. The Sony Open offers an early chance to prove that Oakmont wasn’t a one-week miracle but the beginning of a new chapter.

The Top 5 covers the present. One name bridges the past.  At 62, Vijay Singh refuses to accept ceremonial status. The three-time major champion enters via the top-50 career money exemption, having earned over $71 million across a legendary career. Singh won this event in 2005, edging Ernie Els by a stroke. He hasn’t competed in a regular PGA Tour event since 2021.

The Sony Open lacks the density of a Signature Event, but it compensates with depth of character. Great storytelling doesn’t require the World No. 1. It requires stakes, history, and characters worth following. Waialae has all three.