KAPALUA, Hawaii — Jon Rahm began a bold new year on the PGA Tour with a stunning upset even by Maui standards, getting plenty of help from Colin Morikawa to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Sunday.
Rahm was six shots behind at Kapalu’s 13th hole when he reeled off three straight birdies and a 12-foot eagle putt, and his final birdie gave him a 10-under 63.
Morikawa had gone 67 holes without a bogey on the vegetation course, when it all came down to the woods and fairways, the two areas that had led to a six-stroke lead earlier in the day.
25 yards short of the 14th green, blasted out of the bunker and onto the green. On the par-5 15th, he hit a wedge from a tight lie into the green. The wedge to the 16th didn’t go far enough and rolled about 60 feet back onto the fairway.
Morikawa looked in shock as he walked down the 17th fairway, leading by as many as seven shots in the final round, and suddenly found himself two shots behind and lost hope.
He tied the PGA Tour record for losing the largest 54-hole lead by six shots. Seven other players have done that, most recently Dustin Johnson at the HSBC Championship in Shanghai in late 2017.
According to ESPN Stats & Information, he became the first player in Tour history to lead by six or more strokes in the final round, go without a shot in the final round and not win the tournament.
Rahm finished at 27-under 265, winning by two strokes against Morikawa, birdieing the 18th hole — his first birdie since No. 6 — to close with a 72.
It was the second such failure in Morikawa in more than a year. He closed out 2021 with a 5-shot lead at the Hero World Championship, earning a chance to become No. 1 in the world. He shot 76 to finish fifth.
Masters champion Scotty Scheffler has a chance to return to No. 1 if he finishes in a two-way tie for third or better this week. He settled for 70 and was tied for seventh.
It was a small measure of redemption for Rahm, who finished with a 33-under par at Kapalua last year, a PGA Tour record that lasted just a few seconds. Cameron Smith finished with 34 and won one by one.
Rahm is now under 60 in his two matches at Kapalu. The victory is his ninth on the PGA Tour and 17th worldwide, and he is sure to return to Maui to start in 2024.
Rahm has now won three times in his six appearances worldwide — wins in Spain and Dubai late last year — and took home $4.2 million.
Rahm won $2.7 million from a $15 million purse at Kapalu. He also earns a 25% Player Impact Program bonus — he finished 5th with $6 million in PIP.
The Spaniard has now won on the PGA in each of his seven full years.
Tom Hoge is 64 and tied for third place with Max Homme (66). Hoge flew to Los Angeles and headed to the airport to watch his school, TCU, play for the national championship against Georgia. Hoge then returns to Hawaii for the Sony Open.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
