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Australia’s Cameron Smith etched his name in the record books Sunday at the Sentry Tournament of Champions when he recorded the most strokes under par in PGA Tour history, but he also earned a place in golf lore after going toe-to-toe with Jon Rahm down the stretch at Kapalua, holding off the world No. 1 by a shot for his fourth career victory.
“Unreal round, something I’ll never forget for sure,” said Smith, who finished at 34-under 258, a tournament record by three shots. His 34-under (65-64-64-65) at Kapalua’s Plantation Course also bested a Tour record held by Ernie Els since 2003, when he won the TOC at 31 under.
“It was intense; Jonny and I played well the whole day,” said Smith, who started the week listed at +2000 via PointsBet Sportsbook and was +165 ahead of the final round. Rahm was the betting favorite from the beginning, listed at +775 early in the week and -176 ahead of Sunday.
“There’s many reasons why Jon Rahm‘s the best player in the world, and I witnessed it over the weekend,” he added. “But to be able to hold him off, yeah, it was quite satisfying, I guess. I feel like I did a lot of work over the off-season and, yeah, what better way to kind of start a season, I guess, with holding him off.
Making his third appearance in Kapalua, Smith jumped out to a one-shot lead after the first round and extended it to three heading into the weekend. He shared a the third-round lead with Rahm following the Spaniard’s recording-tying 12-under 61 on Saturday, as the pair stood at 26-under par and five shots out front. Birdies at Nos. 4 and 8 proved pivotal for Smith, who held a two-stroke advantage at the turn. Rahm made birdie at 11 to get within a stroke, but he was matched hole-for-hole down the stretch to finish one back.
“It was really cool,” Smith said of his wire-to-wire performance. “I haven’t done that before. It was nice to kind of see where my game’s at against some of the best players in the world. I’ve been working hard, and it’s paid off early in the season.”
The win vaults Smith up 30 spots to No. 3 in the FedExCup standings and he’s expected to move from No. 21 to No. 10 in the world rankings. The victory also snapped a streak of 11 straight American winners at the Sentry TOC. He now heads to next week’s Sony Open in Hawaii as one of just six players to win both Tour stops in Hawaii, joining Els, Thomas, Jim Furyk, Vijay Singh and Zach Johnson. Smith won at Waialae in 2020 for his second career title.
Staying true to form, Rahm found the bright side after not playing competitively since Oct. 15.
“There’s a lot of positives to take,” said Rahm, who finished runner-up for the eighth time in his 114th start and equaled the Tour record for most birdies (32) in a 72-hole event, tying Paul Gow (2001 B.C. Open) and Mark Calcavecchia (2001 Phoenix Open).
“There’s some stuff I’ve been working on in the off-season that was a lot better today. Some of those flighted wedges I hit this week were a lot better than they have been in the past. I still can improve quite a bit, but it’s moving and trending in the right direction, so I’m happy with that.”
Fellow Aussie Matt Jones finished solo third for his best result of the new season in seven starts and his first top 10 since his win last March at the Honda Classic. He got in on the record action with a final-round 61, tying Rahm and Justin Thomas, the first player to shoot the record-setting 61 on Saturday, for the course record. Sunday’s round featured a hole-out for eagle at No. 13, a 4-foot putt for eagle at 15 and a 50-footer for birdie on 17.
Until this week in Hawaii, only three players had finished a 72-hole event at 30 under or lower: Els in 2003, Jordan Spieth at Kapalua in 2016 and Dustin Johnson at the 2020 Northern Trust at TPC Boston.
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JT, Jones join in record-breaking performances at Kapalua
World No. 8 Justin Thomas, twice a winner at Kapalua (2020, ’17), added a new superlative to his TOC resume on Saturday when he set a new 18-hole scoring record at Plantation Course with a blemish-free, 12-under 61.
“I didn’t do anything crazy,” said Thomas, who shot 65 on Sunday and finished T-5 at 25-under 267. “Just took advantage of all the -- I felt like -- easy opportunities and chances that I had and hit a lot of really good drives, quality iron shots and wedges in there to, again, if there’s such a thing as an easy 12-under, I definitely felt like it was.”
But his reign as recordholder was short-lived when he was matched by none other than world No. 1 Jon Rahm, whose Saturday 61 featured a birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie-birdie finish. Rahm was even par through four holes, making birdie at No. 2 and bogey at No. 4 after a loose tee shot. He went 11-under over his final 12 holes and notched 10 birdies over his last 14.
“The first few holes are birdieable,” said Rahm. “But you come out the gates, it’s almost like a little bit of a warmup and then you get to five and with a good tee shot it’s reachable and very accessible, actually. I hit a 9-iron today and yesterday. So, it kind of gets you going. You get on the birdie train and things like today can happen.”
Indeed, the record was matched again on Sunday, when world No. 104 Matt Jones carded a bogey-free 61 that featured five birdies on the front, three on the back and two eagles on Nos. 13 and 15. The 41-year-old Aussie went 23-under over the weekend (62-61) to set a new record for the lowest 36-hole score to par in consecutive rounds in Tour history.
“It just goes to show the depth of the PGA Tour and how good the players are,” said Jones, who finished solo third at 32-under 260 and still bested the previous record of 31-under, set by Ernie Els at Kapalua in 2003. “If you told me I would have shot 32-under, I would have been more than happy to sit in the clubhouse and let everyone play and see what happens.”
Morikawa’s chase for No. 1 ranking continues
Collin Morikawa came into Kapalua with aspirations – and a legitimate shot – at taking over No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking, but he’ll stay at No. 2 after finishing T-5 in Kapalua at 25-under 267.
Various scenarios for Morikawa to overtake world No. 1 Jon Rahm included a win for the current DP World Tour Race-to-Dubai champion and for the Spaniard to finish lower than a stand-alone second. A solo second for Morikawa could have worked, too, provided Rahm didn’t win or finish second.
Rahm, of course, did finish solo second after contending for the TOC trophy all weekend. Morikawa carded a bogey-free, 11-under 62 in the final round -- matching his career low round on Tour -- notching six birdies on the front and three birdies and an eagle on the back. But it was too little, too late.
“Yeah, not going to complain with an 11-under, I mean scores out here this week, obviously it was a little too late, but I needed it, I needed it just because as kind of a boost for the rest of the year,” said Morikawa, who also had a chance to take over No. 1 last month at the Hero World Challenge.
“Coming into this week, I didn’t really know exactly how the game was going to play out. Kind of just chugged along, put one foot in front of the other the first few days. But the game was feeling good yesterday, I just made a couple mistakes, and today just came out firing and never stopped.”
Early in the week, Morikawa reflected on his rankings goal, saying, “It’s been a dream my entire life to get to No.1 in the world, but it’s not just about getting to No. 1 -- it’s about sustaining that.
“… Having an opportunity here, it’s all in my control, all I can do is try and win the tournament and that’s all I’m going to focus on. But it’s a huge goal, it always has been, and it means something that when you do get there it means you’re doing something right -- or at least a good amount of things right.”
Morikawa will not play in the upcoming Sony Open, where he finished T-7 last year and T-21 in 2020.
Next up: Sony Open in Hawaii
Coming off a 21-under performance this week at the Sentry TOC where he finished T-13, world No. 20 Kevin Na will look to defend his title this coming week at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Na will aim to become the first player since Jimmy Walker in 2014 and ’15 to repeat as the Sony Open champ. Also in the field is Bryson DeChambeau, who’ll play at Waialae for the first time since a T-10 in 2019 (as well as before his physical transformation). Jim Furyk, the 1996 Sony Open champ and a three-time Champions winner last season, will play on Tour for the first time since the 2021 RBC Heritage (MC). Japan’s Keita Nakajima, the world’s top-ranked amateur, will play on a sponsor’s exemption. He finished T-28 at the Zozo Championship in October.
Approximately two dozen players from Kapalua -- including TOC champ Cameron Smith, who won the 2020 Sony Open -- will continue on the “Aloha Swing” to Honolulu and Waialae Country Club, the par-70, 7,044-yard track designed by Seth Raynor that has played host to the Sony Open since 1965. But players will find a decidedly different test from Plantation Course at Waialae, known to be more flat but also narrower.
Last year at Waialae, Na carded the low round of the tournament on Saturday – a 9-under 61 – to earn a spot in the final group Sunday with 54-leader Brendan Steele. Steele faded on the back nine, going 2 over, while Na rallied to play his final six holes in 4-under par, including a birdie at the par-5 18th.
Na, who finished at 21-under 259 to win by a shot over Chris Kirk and Joaquin Niemann, earned his fifth career Tour title and marked his fourth straight season with a win. Fun fact: Kirk, who was playing in his final start of a major medical extension, got up-and-down for birdie on his 72nd hole to satisfy the extension requirements.
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