HONOLULU – Eric Dugas, a Brewster native who now lives and works full-time in Hawaii, is in the field of the Sony Open for the third consecutive year and fifth time overall. The Sony Open begins Thursday at Waiʻalae Country Club in Honolulu, and Dugas will tee off at 6:20 p.m. ET. This is a 144-player field in the first full-field event of PGA TOUR’s 2020 calendar.
ONLINE: SONY OPEN TEE TIMES
Dugas, 36, qualified for the Sony Open by winning the 2019 Aloha Section PGA Professional Championship back in October at Mauna Kea GC in Kohala Coast, Hawaii. At last year’s Sony Open, he made the cut by shooting 2-under through two rounds, but he didn’t advance to the final day of the tournament. He also played in the Sony Open in 2012, 2014 and 2018.
Now a golf professional at Makena Golf and Beach Club on Maui’s south side, Dugas used to belong to The Captains Golf Course in Brewster. He came close to winning the Mass Open in 2013 and 2014. In 2014, he was in a four-way playoff with Connecticut’s Kyle Gallo, Brockton’s Matt Parziale (Thorny Lea GC) and Boston’s Ian Thimble (George Wright GC) after all four shot 5-under 211 through three rounds. Thimble eventually pulled out the victory. The year prior, Dugas finished T4 overall.
Now he’s hoping to play well at this year’s Sony Open, a course he’s become familiar with over the years. Before playing in the 2018 Sony Open, Dugas said he was confident playing the course at Waiʻalae, as it reminds him of courses designed by Donald Ross, an inaugural member of the Mass Golf Hall of Fame. Ross designed some of Mass Golf’s most storied Member Clubs, including Essex County Club, Weston Golf Club, Winchester Country Club, and Vesper Country Club.
After graduating from Nauset Regional High School, Dugas attended Methodist University in North Carolina where he played for the men’s golf team and participated in the Professional Golf Management program.
After graduating in 2005, he had stints at clubs such as Old Sandwich in Plymouth, Eastward Ho! in Chatham and Kukio Golf and Beach Club in Hawaii. He continued competing at a high level, even playing in the 2008 PGA Championship at Oakland Hills CC. He didn’t make the cut, and in 2013, he tried to make the European Tour. Instead, he ended up playing on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica until 2015.
Now’s he’s a working pro, who occasionally gets to tee it up with some of the best in the world. Only in Hawaii, he has home-field advantage.
HOW TO FOLLOW
Television: Thursday-Saturday, 7-10:30 p.m. ET (Golf Channel); Sunday, 6-10 p.m. (Golf Channel).
Radio: Thursday-Saturday, 5-10:30 p.m. ET. Sunday, 5-10 p.m. ET (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio).
