Kapalua, Hawaii — Jon Rahm is getting used to low scores on the Plantation Course in Kapalua. He can only hope this start will lead to better results in his Sentry Tournament of Champions.
A year after finishing second at 33-under, Rahm birdied three of his final four holes for a 9-under 64, sharing the lead with Colin Morikawa and JJ Spaun on Thursday. A idyllic start to the year.
Morikawa started the back nine with six consecutive birdies, his longest consecutive birdie on the PGA Tour. Playing for Kapalua for the first time, Spaun recorded four straight birdies for him, with his only complaint.
“My toes hurt,” he said. “Even though it can be played like a short course, it’s a long walk.
Cameron Smith won last year at a PGA Tour-record 34-under in a week with little wind. Just as it depends on the victory of the trade that was on holiday on Thursday.
As to whether Kapalua owed him, Ram did not agree.
“You can’t claim that on a lot of golf courses,” Rahm said. “I can’t say much. I hit 33 under. I played golf.It was a great fight.Hopefully if I can get to that point again’, hopefully it’s me and hopefully I can win one. “
The Plantation Course is fast without being stiff and in top shape due to the steep inclines that can cause your shots to roll on the ground longer than they fly through the air.
Morikawa is one of 10 players who qualified for the Tournament of Champions despite failing to win last year. Under a bold new PGA Tour schedule of promotion tournaments (his $15 million in prize money this week), Kapaluafield has expanded to include everyone who has reached a Tour championship.
The two-time Grand Slam champion is determined to fix the flaws that slowed him down last year, hiring putting coach Stephen Sweeney and enlisting former player Parker McLachlin for help in the short game.
“I just have the answer,” Morikawa said. “Putting used to be a guesswork. I put well today so I thought I was doing something, but it was really something else.”
Whatever he had on Thursday worked and helped see his 20-foot putt fall early. I went to
Tom Kim holed out from 116 yards on the downhill 6th hole and had two eagles digging into the fairway metal to 5ft on the par 5 15th hole. He was 65 at his age, one stroke behind.
Jordan Spieth missed a 2-foot par putt on hole 1 and saved par by holing a flop shot from the bunker collar just behind the 16th green. He finished with 67.
Billy Horschel was the only player out of 39 to fall short of 76.
Among the 66-year-olds were Masters champion Scotty Schaeffler (who could return to No. 1 in the world with a third-place finish) and Tom Hoge, who has a lot of road ahead of him.
Hoge played college golf at TCU. He qualified for Kapalua for the first time and will be heading to Oahu next week for his Sony Open, which will be a nearly 5,000-mile trip. Hoge said he will leave Maui for Los Angeles on Sunday night to watch the Horned Frogs play in the national championship against Georgia before returning to Honolulu.
“We haven’t won since 1938,” Hoge said. “It may only be once in a lifetime.”
Xander Schauffele, who won Kapalua in 2019 and lost in the playoffs the following year, scored 70 points a month ago while dealing with a back number that first surfaced at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. bottom. I don’t know what was wrong with him, but he couldn’t swing very hard.
“I’m 29 and Hero was the first kind of problem I’d ever had, so this is new to me,” Schauffele said. “That’s why I don’t know how to answer these questions. I didn’t have to do this. Hopefully we don’t have these conversations more often.” “
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