Steve Palmer's Sony Open first-round preview, best bets and free golf tips

When to watch

Sky Sports Golf, midnight Thursday

Best bets

Abraham Ancer first-round leader
1pt each-way 50-1 general
Back this tip with Paddy Power
Abraham Ancer to win threeball
1pt Evens Betfred, Coral, Ladbrokes
Back this tip with CoralSebastian Munoz to beat Carlos Ortiz
1pt 5-6 Sky Bet

Preview

Sony Open favourite Justin Thomas is scheduled to start his quest for another Hawaii success at 10.40pm UK & Ireland time, teeing off alongside Brendon Todd and defending champion Matt Kuchar at Waialae Country Club.

Thomas, victorious in the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Maui on Sunday, opened the Sony Open three years ago with a spectacular round of 59 and he is a total of 115 under par for tournaments in Hawaii since 2017. The weather forecast for this event, though, means it is likely that nobody in the field will get anywhere near 59s as strong winds are set to whip across Honolulu.

Given the conditions, Presidents Cup star Abraham Ancer looks worth backing to lead after the first round at 50-1. The Texas-born Mexican possesses the long-game control to handle a stiff breeze and he is full of confidence after his heroics for the Internationals last month at Royal Melbourne, where he won three and a half points for his team.

Ancer is due off at 7.10am local time (5.10pm UK) for the opening round at Waialae – first off from the tenth tee – and should get the calmest skies of a day when the wind is set to blow early before gradually increasing in ferocity during the afternoon.

Ancer, fourth in the WGC-HSBC Champions and eighth in the Mayakoba Classic in his two most recent PGA Tour starts, can take advantage of the best of the greens and set the early clubhouse mark. The improving 28-year-old also looks a worthwhile investment to win his threeball against James Hahn and Chesson Hadley, an out-of-sorts duo with a combined world ranking of 1,008.

The pick of the 72-hole match-bet options is Sebastian Munoz to defeat Carlos Ortiz at 5-6 in a draw-no-bet market with Sky Bet. Munoz, who ended 2019 with third place in the RSM Classic before opening 2020 with 17th spot on his Tournament of Champions debut, finished tenth in his first Sony Open appearance last year and has since become a PGA Tour champion.

Ortiz also ended last year well, but did not qualify for last week's event and is making his first start of 2020 this week. The often erratic slugger has Sony form figures of MC-MC-29.

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