Sony Open fantasy Notes-Sat.

So who is in the Sony Open?
They got a pretty good field, including Jordan Spieth who is making his second start at Waialae, the first he missed the cut in 2014. The event was able to get 23 of the 32 players from Kapalua, with four of the top-15 players in the world and 17 of the top-50 playing. Key players along with Spieth will be Hideki Matsuyama, Paul Casey and a bit of a surprise Justin Rose. Two-time Sony winner Jimmy Walker will play along with defending champion Fabian Gomez and 2009 champion Zach Johnson.

A couple of players that always seem to come and won’t be at Waialae is Matt Kuchar, who has finished in the top-13 in the last five Sony starts. Not only is Kuchar not playing the Sony, but as of today he still hasn’t sign up to play the following week at the CareerBuilder Challenge and it’s not know when he will be back on Tour. Another player that won’t play in the Sony is Davis Love III, who has seven top-tens in 16 starts. Unfortunately Love would love to be in Hawaii but last week he broke his collarbone in three places in a snowboarding accident in Sun Valley, Idaho. The accident also cut short his winter holiday as he flew to Birmingham, Al. where he had surgery with a plate and eight screws put into his neck. Doctors expect Love, who was scheduled to play next week’s Sony Open, to be able to start swinging a golf club again in six weeks and he should be ready to return to the Tour in 12 weeks right around the RBC Heritage Classic.

——————————————————–
BMW South African Open
In past years this event has had to exist on big South African names like Ernie Els, Charl Schwartzel, Brandon Stone, Branden Grace and Retief Goosen. This year will be a bit different as Rory McIlroy will join the field. As we mentioned last week, McIlroy is still testing some new clubs so this will be a great venue for that but he had another good reason to play. That is to make good on a promise to Ernie Els, who is the South Africa Open unofficial “host”. McIlroy is repaying a favor to Els, who helped McIlroy back in 2015 when he needed to get some top stars to play in the Irish Open, which McIlroy had just signed on to help run.  It comes at a good time for Els who raises money for his Center for Autism, so McIlroy is looking foward in helping the cause.  It will be McIlroy’s first appearance in this event since finishing T-3rd in 2009 when it was held at Pearl Valley Golf Estates. Along with McIlroy, Brandon Stone will be defending his title along with Retief Goosen, who won the South African Open in 1995 and 2005. One person that won’t be attending is Charl Schwartzel, who on his twitter feed said he would of loved to play at Kapalua but a slight knee injury was keeping him back. Seems that he is still rehabbing and resting up and there is no indication on when he will make his first start of the new year. It’s a shame for Schwartzel, who has been runner-up twice in the South African Open, including a lost in a playoff in 2015, his last start in this event.

One last thing from the European Tour, after years of being one of the most eligible bachelors in golf, seems that a lady finally has tamed “El Nino”.  On Friday Sergio Garcia on his twitter feed announced that he is getting married this year to Angela Akins.  Prior to dating Akins, who was a reporter at Golf Channel, Garcia had a lot of other marquee romances, the biggest with tennis star Martina Hingis and Morgan Leigh Norman, daughter of Greg Norman.  But the winner is Akins who has been dating Garcia for over a year.  No date set, but it’s suppose to happen in 2017.