The PGA Tour hops from Maui to Honolulu this week as the brief Hawaii Swing concludes with the 2023 Sony Open at Waialae Country Club. It's the first full-field event of the calendar year, and seven of the world's top 25 will be in action starting Thursday. Nineteen of the 38 players from last week's Sentry Tournament of Champions are scheduled to compete. They include Hideki Matsuyama, the defending Sony champion, three-time major winner Jordan Spieth and rising star Tom Kim.      

Kim is the 12-1 favorite in the latest 2023 Sony Open odds, followed closely by Sungjae Im (14-1) and Spieth (16-1). Among the other expected contenders in the Sony Open 2023 field are Brian Harman (16-1), Matsuyama (18-1) and 2022 runner-up Russell Henley (22-1).  

Before you lock in any 2023 Sony Open picks, make sure you check out the PGA Tour predictions and best bets from golf insider Patrick McDonald.

After spending time at FanSided and NBC Sports EDGE, McDonald joined CBS Sports as a golf writer in the spring of 2022. Now covering the sport from a broader perspective, McDonald still likes to dip his toes into the betting pools on a weekly basis on the PGA Tour. 

McDonald takes a measured approach to his outright selections and is having a profitable 2022-23 season in every category. He NAILED the Houston Open, backing Tony Finau to win at 25-1, and is up almost 10 units on his plays overall. That's a profit of nearly $1,000 for $100 bettors! McDonald also has been on the money on his matchup plays and cashed in HUGE on Brendan Steele (80-1) as the first-round leader at the Zozo Championship.

The expert finished the 2021-22 season up 42 units on his outright plays, having hit Cameron Smith (22-1) at the Tournament of Champions, Hudson Swafford (250-1) at The American Express, Joaquin Niemann (70-1) at the Genesis Invitational and Justin Thomas (66-1) live at the PGA Championship. Anyone who follows McDonald's advice has been cashing in!

Now, McDonald has combed the 2023 Sony Open field for the best value and locked in his best bets and favorites to avoid. One thing we can tell you is that McDonald is fading Spieth, even though he is one of the biggest names in the tournament! He doesn't usually have the accuracy off the tee he'll need to contend at Waialae and hasn't been good on approach or on the greens. The expert says this makes Spieth "an easy pass compared to some of the other favorites."

Instead, McDonald is targeting FIVE major long shots who come in at more than 40-1! One of these players excels on tight courses where accuracy off the tee matters, and if this golfer can pull off his breakthrough victory he would bring a MASSIVE payday well over 100-1 for anyone who backs him! You ABSOLUTELY need to see who it is before locking in any Sony Open 2023 picks of your own!

So which 2023 Sony Open players should you target or avoid? And which golfer in the Sony Open 2023 field could could bring a massive payday well over 100-1? ... Join SportsLine right now to see Patrick McDonald's top picks for the 2023 Sony Open, all from the expert up almost $1,000 for the 2022-23 season, and find out!