The post ‘It’s just taking care of yourself’: How a two-month break helped Jon Rahm appeared first on Golf.

The post ‘It’s just taking care of yourself’: How a two-month break helped Jon Rahm appeared first on Golf.

Jon Rahm describes himself as someone who has “golf on my mind 24/7.” And the golf-on-my-mind-24/7er needed to take both those numbers down.

It was the middle of last October, and after a missed cut at the Andalucia Masters in his native Spain, which had followed the Ryder Cup, and 21 tournaments in 2021, and his first major championship, not to mention the birth of his first child, and two positive Covid tests, Rahm said “this is the first time in my life that I don’t want to see a golf club.”

“More than my body, it is my mind that can’t take it,” he said at the time. “… If we add it all up, I need to rest.”

And rest, at least from tournament golf, he did. But notice, at least from Sunday’s finish, you probably did not. When he returned last week at the Tournament of Champions, Rahm hadn’t seen a leaderboard in two-plus months. But there he was, right near the top, as if he had never left.

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On Thursday, Rahm shot a seven-under 66 (and hit his first shot back down the fairway). On Friday, another 66. On Saturday, he shot a 12-under 61, a course record on the Plantation Course at Kapalua. On Sunday, he shot his third 66 and finished second, a stroke behind Cameron Smith, who he had played with, in the final pairing, over the entire weekend. Surprising? Maybe a little. But while golf lends itself to repetition, over and over and over, Rahm said he also found benefits in stopping. 

After his final round, he was part of the following exchange with reporters: 

Question: Curious, when you were during your time off, when you were still working, but not necessarily playing, what’s a workday for you? Six hours, eight hours?

“Depends,” Rahm said. 

Question: What do you think it was 40 years ago for someone in your shoes?

“I have no idea,” Rahm said. “I’m usually, I mean I have golf on my mind 24/7. I’m a sunrise-to-sunset type of guy, so I don’t know. I mean, there’s very well weeks where I average 10 hours.”

News

Question: If you’re not working, you’re falling behind?

“No, I believe …” Rahm said. 

Question: Do you think that’s true?

“Not always, no,” Rahm said. “I think there’s a point of detriment when you do too much. I feel like you got to understand and know your body. If you’re recovering properly and you know you can take it on, I think it’s important, but it’s not always the case. Sometimes you need to rest, your mind and body need to rest, and I don’t think you’re getting worse; it’s just taking care of yourself.”

Of course, you don’t need Jon Rahm to explain to you that vacation is a good thing. (No matter the vocation!) Still, when the world No. 1 punches out, then comes back throwing haymakers, it’s a bit of an eye-opener.  

Before the TOC, Rahm said he had “needed a break, not only for me but also for my family.”

“We all endured it [the year] together, and I just wanted the time to be a dad and be a husband and just be there for my wife and my son,” he continued. “I’m really glad I did it because since he was born we had help at night and Kelley [his wife] had help, but I wasn’t that help, because I was competing and I had to sleep to be able to compete.

Gear

“So as soon as I got back home, I told her, you know, I want to be more involved, obviously I want to help out, and for those two months I really, really, really enjoyed having to wake up a couple times a night and take care of my son. Be able to be there in the morning, give him a bath in the morning, feed him, give him a bath at night, just enjoy the simple things of parenthood and knowing that basically once he starts going to school, I’m pretty much going to miss 50 percent of his life. I really wanted to cherish those moments.

“I know I’m not going to regret any time I decide to spend more time with my family, and that was what that decision was based on, and I couldn’t be happier that I made that decision.”

Rahm was asked how much golf he played over that stretch.

“I took the first two weeks off, completely off of golf,” he said. “I still went to the gym and worked out just because it’s more of a mental thing. Then I slowly just started playing some games with my friend and then practicing. But the first month wasn’t very intense. I was there, wanted to be there with my family.”

And then Rahm was back. A new man. 

And same as the old one. 

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The post The very simple — and ‘everyman’ — way Cameron Smith improved his driving appeared first on Golf.

The post The very simple — and ‘everyman’ — way Cameron Smith improved his driving appeared first on Golf.

A reporter, after Cameron Smith’s victory on Sunday at the Tournament of Champions, described him this way to begin a question on the Aussie’s personality: “the everyman if you will, for the Americans, or just the solid true-blue bloke that you’ve been able to maintain.” He wasn’t wrong. Consider, first, Smith’s answer to the question, which was whether he would ever consider changing after besting 37 other winners from last year, shooting a record 34-under in doing so and moving into the top 10 in the world afterward:

“Yeah, I feel like there’s no real reason to change my personality. I think my dad would whip me, to be honest, if I did.” Smith laughed, then continued.

“I don’t know. It’s just how I’ve been brought up. I’ve been brought up to be kind of the modest guy that respects everyone. And like even today out there, Jon [Rahm] was great as well. Every time we made a putt or a birdie it was, good shot, mate, or there was never any, I guess, hatred towards each other just because we were competing. It was, we wanted to win because we wanted to compete against the best.

“Yeah, so I think that’s just kind of how I’ve been brought up, and I respect other guys’ good play as well.”

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Consider, too, in evaluating his “true-blue bloke” credentials, his answer to whether he would get himself anything “as a reward for winning.” 

“I don’t know. I’ll have to sleep on that one, to be honest. I mean, I’m quite content with where I’m at. I know mom’s car’s probably getting four or five years old, so maybe a new car for mom.”

You get the point, and we don’t even need to touch the business-in-the-front, party-in-the-back ‘do on the top of his head. So it was only natural then, when it was time to iron out what he believed was the part of his game that was holding him back, that he took a very much everyman method to it. 

From 2016 to last year, Smith has finished no better than 119th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee (119th in 2021, tied for 160th in 2020; 140th in 2019; 145th in 2018; 130th in 2017; and 158th in 2016). So he went to work after playing in the RSM Classic before Thanksgiving. Or, more accurately, started to.

Instruction

“Yeah, I don’t typically like working on stuff through the season,” Smith said. “I like to make subtle changes here and there. But I think just actually hitting golf balls, I spoke to my coach a lot over the offseason, sent him a lot of swings, and, yeah, it’s just something that we kind of grinded on.

“My irons I’ve always felt kind of comfortable with, and my wedges, and we knew that if I could finally sort out the driver that I could really have one of my best seasons yet.”

Was there anything specific Smith looked at?

“I mean, that’s hard to explain, to be honest. It really wasn’t much,” Smith said. “Probably just hitting more balls with driver, to be honest. I’m one of the — I’m not lazy. I guess I’m lazy on the range. I get through the wedges and the irons, and then I’m like, oh, I’m ready to go home and I barely hit driver. So I made sure I stayed there for an extra 10 or 15 minutes and actually hit some balls.”

Drivers

And there you have it. Perhaps the most everyman way to improve: just hit more balls. And perhaps the envy of everyman who struggles to improve: just hit more balls. Still, unless the practice-make-perfect folks have been lying to us all these years, there is something to it. Especially if you blend in technique, which Smith also did, through the advice of his longtime swing coach, Grant Field. (For you, we suggest these pages.)  

Whatever the case, it worked: Smith was first in the field at the Tournament of Champions in SG: Off the Tee. The everyman was the best man. 

“I was really pleased with my driver all week,” Smith said. “I felt like last year it let me down a lot, so to be able to hit so many fairways, especially under pressure, was really good.”

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The post Spotted on Tour: Cameron Smith’s record-setting driver at Kapalua appeared first on Golf.

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Welcome to Spotted on Tour, where we’ll highlight buzzy apparel, gear, gadgets and more that caught our eye over the weekend. Better yet, we’ll help you get your hands on your own.

It was a very bad week to be a golf ball in Maui. For those dimpled spheres with the misfortune of winding up on or around the premises of the Plantation Course at Kapalua, what lay ahead was a long (and tortured) smothering at the hands of the very best players in the world.

The PGA Tour made light work of the Plantation Course, putting forth a dizzying array of ballstriking and scoring prowess in the opening event of the 2022 calendar year. The last-place finisher in this week’s 38-person, no-cut field was Jason Kokrak, who ended the week a measly seven under. On the other end of the leaderboard was Cameron Smith, who posited a PGA Tour-record 34 under 72-hole score en route to his first win of 2022.

Gear

Smith recorded birdies on 43 percent of his holes for the week in Kapalua, 31 of them in total. Thirty-one. He also outlasted World No. 1 Jon Rahm, who posted a course-record 61 on Saturday afternoon in Maui.

In short, the Sentry Tournament of Champions was a scoring bonanza. A scoring bonanza aided by some of the latest-and-greatest tech in the golf gear space, like Smith’s Titleist TSi3 driver.

The TSi3 is Titleist’s latest offering in the driver space, and though it launched in early 2021, has remained a favorite of Titleist staffers up-and-down the professional tours well into 2022. Titleist heralds the TSi3’s ATI 425 face — which is made from unique, aerospace-grade titanium — with helping players produce better ballspeeds and improved distances off the tee. A unique, bubble-like head shape also improves aerodynamics and reduces drag on the club, allowing players to swing at higher speeds.

The end result was a star performer at GOLF’s ClubTest last year, and a club that helped Cam Smith produce a tournament-best 4.02 strokes gained: off-the-tee for the week in Maui.

To learn more about the TSi3, check out the link below.

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The post What it’s like to shoot one of the best scores ever — and NOT win appeared first on Golf.

The post What it’s like to shoot one of the best scores ever — and NOT win appeared first on Golf.

Dateline, Kapalua, Hawaii. Jon Rahm, behind no round worse than seven-under 66, and after a third-round 61, the best score ever on the Plantation Course at Kapalua, won the Tournament of Champions behind a 33-under total, the lowest 72-hole score in relation to par in the history of the PGA Tour. One stroke behind, in second, was Matt Jones, whose 32-under total also bested the previous scoring mark. 

You deserve it, fellas. Your very own, GOLF.com winner and runner-up lead. Print it out and hang it on the fridge if you like. 

For every year since 1950, that first paragraph (or something more eloquent, of course) would have gone down as the record of this PGA Tour tournament. No player, over those 72 years, had gone as low as Rahm and Jones did this week at the TOC. Of course, we know what actually happened.

Cameron Smith shot 34-under. And this:

Dateline, Kapalua, Hawaii. Jon Rahm, behind no round worse than seven-under 66, and after a third-round 61, the best score ever on the Plantation Course at Kapalua, won the Tournament of Champions behind a 33-under total, the lowest 72-hole score in relation to par in the history of the PGA Tour. One stroke behind, in second, was Matt Jones, whose 32-under total also bested the previous scoring mark. 

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And so it will be written as Rahm finishing as runner-up — with the second-best 72-hole score in relation to par since 1950. And the first week of January of 2022 will be remembered as Jones finishing third — with the third-best 72-hole score in relation to par since 1950. The strangest thing. And since losing with a score that any other week would have beaten everybody else has never, ever been done, it naturally leads us to this obvious question:

How ya feeling?

At least to the reporters gathered, happy. And sad. A bittersweet feeling. Resigned. As expected. With Kapalua playing soft — the course had reportedly received a foot (!) of rain last month — and the wind reduced to a kiss on the cheek, Rahm and Jones suggested that this odd outcome was a possibility. In a way, it was like losing 6-under to 5-under. But birdie-er.   

“Well, this golf course only has one defense, and that’s the wind,” Rahm said. “If people are shooting between 20- and 26-under with 20-mile-an-hour winds, what do you expect us to do when there’s absolutely no wind? Maybe, maybe getting to 10 miles an hour gusting every so often, right?

“I think that’s the difference. I’m not surprised. When it comes to records, I think, what was it, Jordan [Spieth] shot 30, D.J. [Dustin Johnson] shot 31, and Ernie [Els] shot 31, right? And all three of them won by a margin. It’s kind of weird when you look forward in the records that there’s two of us that beat that score and lost by one and two. So, you know, I know we did a really good job and we shot low, but I think those 30- and 31-unders deserve a lot more credit than my 33-under.”

Said Jones: “I mean, it just goes to show the depth of the PGA Tour and how good the players are. 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.”

Rahm continued Jones’ point. Which was essentially a play on the old Tour slogan: These guys are good. Except now, maybe even greater, according to Rahm. He was asked the following question: 

“We know what happened out here today, with as good as you guys are and perfect conditions. For people who go crazy looking at the number of scores under par, is this something they should be getting used to when you have weather like that, just considering the fact there’s so many good players?”

“Well, that’s it,” Rahm said. “I know who you’re referring to, right? You have what’s probably a lot of purists of the game who are probably going, Oh, you got to roll the ball back, shorter drivers, do this, do that.

“The simple fact is since Tiger [Woods] started playing golf, you are getting people that take this game a lot more seriously. Everybody thinks about it more like athletes. So the level of the game of all of us, it’s a lot higher than it used to be.

“Not to take away anything from anybody — Tiger’s an amazing player, and he was better than all of us have ever been — but overall I think the average player, it’s a better golf player. And when you come to a golf course where the only defense is wind, just, at least you expect 20 miles an hour here, and we usually shoot 20- to 26-under and win the tournament.”

Said a reporter: “And not so soft either, I would think.”

“Exactly,” Rahm said. “And you get the same golf course with no wind, what do you expect? You have 50-yard fairways, soft greens, we’re going to shoot low. 

“It’s just kind of how it goes.”

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The post Women’s Open champ follows the men, and her awe is one of the best things you’ll see appeared first on Golf.

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The fan bulged out her eyes, raised her eyebrows and, though she knew she had to stay quiet near the tee, piped out, “Sheeeeesh.” Game was not only recognizing game, but game was also saluting game, too. 

“Whoa, that has a different sound,” Yuka Saso, 2021 U.S. Women’s Open champ, said as she watched the tee shot of Bryson DeChambeau, 2020 U.S. Men’s Open champ. She clapped. “Nice shot.”

“Hope the ball is OK,” she continued, then laughed. 

As good a player as Saso is — and she’s plenty that; Google “Yuka Saso swing,” and you’ll swear you instead typed in “Rory McIlroy” — she’s that much of a fan. It was McIlroy, you may remember, that has inspired her swing, and it was McIlroy, you may recall, she gushed over in June at the men’s Open, where she met him for the first time, soon after her Open victory. This week, after appearances with her new club maker, Callaway, at the Plantation Course at Kapalua in Hawaii, she was followed around by PGA Tour cameras during the second round of the Tournament of Champions, and the videos are below.

In the first, released Saturday by the Tour social media team, Saso watched the DeChambeau tee shot, and in the second video, released Sunday, she followed the pairing of Xander Schauffele and Hideki Matsuyama. The best part? It may have been when the 20-year-old innocently came upon a volunteer working a yardage laser in the middle of the fairway. 

“What is that? What is that?” Saso asked.  

“It’s a laser,” the volunteer answered. “I spot the ball, and I shoot it into the trailer.” 

“Oh, so you know how far it is?” she asked with her second question. 

“Um, they know the distance to here.” the volunteer answered.  

“How far was Hideki?” Saso asked with her third question. 

Instruction

“155,” the volunteer answered.  

“155?” Saso asked with her fourth question. 

“From here to the hole.” the volunteer answered. 

“155. OK, thank you,” Saso ended with. 

All of it brought back to mind the McIlroy meeting. There, holding the Harton S. Semple trophy and accompanied by an entourage of USGA media staffers, Saso sheepishly approached McIlroy at Torrey Pines and walked a few holes.

“I didn’t know how to say hi,” Saso later told Golf Channel. “But he was so nice. He was so kind. He was so open.”

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The post 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions purse: Payout information, winner’s share appeared first on Golf.

The post 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions purse: Payout information, winner’s share appeared first on Golf.

We’ve reached the final round of play at the first event of the 2022 season: the Sentry Tournament of Champions. Below, find everything you need to know about tournament money, including purse, payout information and winner’s share.

Tournament of Champions final round preview

Not that scoring is ever a concern of PGA Tour fans, but if for some reason it was heading into the 2022 season, the first few days of the Sentry Tournament of Champions have all-but-eliminated it. Heading into Sunday morning at Kapalua, leaders Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith enter at 26 under par. That’s just a hair under a birdie every other hole pace, an effort buffeted by Rahm’s course-record tying 61 on Saturday afternoon.

Further back, Daniel Berger looks to mount a Sunday charge after a trio of 66s to open the week, while Patrick Cantlay, Sungjae Im and Matt Jones (all -20) enter needing red-hot Sundays to vault back into contention. Further back, Justin Thomas looks to build off a course record-tying round of his own on Saturday by climbing into the top five on Sunday.

Below, find the payout information and winner’s share for the Tournament of Champions’ $8.2 million purse; you can catch the action this afternoon beginning at 4 p.m. ET on NBC, and continuing at 6 p.m. ET on Golf Channel.

Tournament of Champions payout information, winner’s share

1. $1,476,000.00 

2. $810,000.00 

3. $515,000.00 

4. $400,000.00 

5. $335,000.00 

6. $278,000.00 

7. $245,000.00 

8. $225,000.00 

9. $210,000.00 

10. $195,000.00 

11. $181,000.00 

12. $170,000.00 

13. $160,000.00 

14. $150,000.00 

15. $140,000.00 

16. $133,000.00 

17. $130,000.00 

18. $127,000.00 

19. $124,000.00 

20. $122,000.00 

21. $120,000.00 

22. $118,000.00 

23. $116,000.00 

24. $115,000.00 

25. $114,000.00 

26. $113,000.00 

27. $112,000.00 

28. $111,000.00 

29. $110,000.00 

30. $109,000.00 

31. $108,000.00 

32. $107,000.00 

33. $106,000.00 

34. $105,000.00 

35. $104,000.00 

36. $103,000.00 

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We’re through three rounds of high-flying play at the 2021 Sentry Tournament of Champions and are closing in on the completion of the first event of the 2022 PGA Tour calendar year. Below, find everything you need to know to tune into the action on Sunday, including tee times, TV schedules, and streaming information.

Sentry TOC final round preview

If three days of competition at the 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions have taught us nothing else, it’s that in 2022, living under par will be no issue. The famed Plantation Course at Kapalua Bay has proven no competition for the game’s best — surrendering not one but two course-record rounds on Saturday afternoon.

As for the leaderboard, a pair of names have risen above the heap: Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith. The pair of longtime pros both enter Sunday’s final pairing at 26 under for the week, five strokes clear of the remainder of the field. The strong start to Rahm’s 2022 season comes at a time of particular interest for gear heads — Kapalua marks Rahm’s first start with Callaway’s new line of Rogue ST clubs in his bag, which the former major champ produced eye-popping numbers using in testing.

Further back, a trio of consecutive 66s were enough to place Daniel Berger in solo third place heading into Sunday. Berger (-21) will look to fend off Matt Jones, Sungjae Im and Patrick Cantlay (all -20) as he chases down the leaders on Sunday.

How to watch Tournament of Champions Round 4 on TV

NBC and Golf Channel will split final round coverage of the 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions, with NBC kicking off coverage from 4-6 p.m. ET before things flip over to Golf Channel for the remainder of play.

How to stream Tournament of Champions Round 4 online

You can stream the final round of the 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions via PGA Tour Live on ESPN+ from 12:45 p.m. ET on Sunday through the completion of play, which includes featured group coverage. Fans can also stream the final round Golf Channel TV coverage on golfchannel.com.

SIGN UP FOR PGA TOUR LIVE ON ESPN+ TO STREAM THE ENTIRE 2022 SENTRY TOURNAMENT OF CHAMPIONS ONLINE

How to bet on the Tournament of Champions

Looking to make a (legal!) wager yourself? We teamed with BetMGM, and the online sportsbook is offering a “Risk-Free Bet” up to $1000 promotion. Sign up for an account to get into the action today.

2022 Tournament of Champions Round 4 tee times (All times ET)

12:50 p.m. — Lucas Glover, Jason Kokrak

1 p.m. — Abraham Ancer, Branden Grace

1:10 p.m. — Viktor Hovland, K.H. Lee

1:20 p.m. — Phil Mickelson, Harris English

1:30 p.m. — Billy Horschel, Lucas Herbert

1:40 p.m. — Tony Finau, Brooks Koepka

1:50 p.m. — Erik van Rooyen, Jordan Spieth

2 p.m. — Joel Dahmen, Garrick Higgo

2:10 p.m. — Seamus Power, Si Woo Kim

2:20 p.m. — Talor Gooch, Collin Morikawa

2:35 p.m. — Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns

2:45 p.m. — Patrick Reed, Bryson DeChambeau

2:55 p.m. — Kevin Na, Max Homa

3:05 p.m. — Kevin Kisner, Stewart Cink

3:15 p.m. — Hideki Matsuyama, Cam Davis

3:25 p.m. — Marc Leishman, Justin Thomas

3:35 p.m. — Sungjae Im, Patrick Cantlay

3:45 p.m. — Daniel Berger, Matt Jones

3:55 p.m. — Cameron Smith, Jon Rahm

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The final round of the 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions gets underway Sunday, January 9, at Kapalua in Hawaii. You can find full Round 4 tee times for the tournament at the bottom of this post.

Featured pairing for Tournament of Champions Round 4

Sunday’s final pairing is the same as Saturday’s, and if the third round was any indication, the fourth should be a good one.

At 3:55 p.m. ET, some 24 hours after their Saturday duel that saw them combine for 20 birdies, one eagle and just bogey, Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith will tee off No. 1 with a share of a five-shot lead. During the third round, Smith shot a nine-under 64 — and lost a three-shot lead entering the day after Rahm shot a course-record 61.

Five back of Rahm and Smith is Daniel Berger, and he and Matt Jones, who shot a 62 on Saturday, will make up the penultimate group. Jones, Sungjae Im and Patrick Cantlay are six back of the leaders.

Check out complete final-round tee times for the 2022 Sentry Tournament of Champions below.

2022 Tournament of Champions Round 4 tee times (All times ET)

12:50 p.m. — Lucas Glover, Jason Kokrak

1 p.m. — Abraham Ancer, Branden Grace

1:10 p.m. — Viktor Hovland, K.H. Lee

1:20 p.m. — Phil Mickelson, Harris English

1:30 p.m. — Billy Horschel, Lucas Herbert

1:40 p.m. — Tony Finau, Brooks Koepka

1:50 p.m. — Erik van Rooyen, Jordan Spieth

2 p.m. — Joel Dahmen, Garrick Higgo

2:10 p.m. — Seamus Power, Si Woo Kim

2:20 p.m. — Talor Gooch, Collin Morikawa

2:35 p.m. — Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns

2:45 p.m. — Patrick Reed, Bryson DeChambeau

2:55 p.m. — Kevin Na, Max Homa

3:05 p.m. — Kevin Kisner, Stewart Cink

3:15 p.m. — Hideki Matsuyama, Cam Davis

3:25 p.m. — Marc Leishman, Justin Thomas

3:35 p.m. — Sungjae Im, Patrick Cantlay

3:45 p.m. — Daniel Berger, Matt Jones

3:55 p.m. — Cameron Smith, Jon Rahm

How to bet on the Tournament of Champions

Looking to make a (legal!) wager yourself? We teamed with BetMGM, and the online sportsbook is offering a “Risk-Free Bet” up to $1000 promotion. Sign up for an account to get into the action today.

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Before we get into all of the fireworks on Saturday, and 38 winners from the past year on the PGA Tour lit up the Plantation Course at Kapalua like the Fourth of July, let’s have some fun with it. Consider Viktor Hovland. He shot an otherwise respectable even-par 73 — and sunk 10 spots down the leaderboard. Consider Justin Thomas. He shot an other-worldy, not to mention a course-record, 12-under 61, and he’s nine shots out of the lead. Consider Cameron Smith. He shot a ridiculous nine-under 64, and he lost his three-stroke lead entering the day. And consider Jon Rahm. He lost his ball on the 4th hole, took a penalty stroke — and finished with the second (!) 61 of the day to tie Smith at the top. Whew. Here are three things you need to know after the third round of the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.    

Complete leaderboard here. 

Jon Rahm and Cameron Smith are tied at the top 

Let’s start with Rahm and Smith, the final pairing on Saturday (and the last one, again, on Sunday). It was a doozy. 

One bogey between them. And 20 birdies. Rahm tossed in an eagle. Their fantastic back-and-forth picked up steam on the 7th, where each birdied. Rahm birdied 8. Each birdied 9. Making the turn, they each birdied 10 and 11, with the latter hole featuring a Smith putt of 20 feet, which was matched by a Rahm putt of 15. Smith birdied 14, 15, 16 and 17. Rahm birdied 14, 16 and 17 — and eagled 15. On the 17th, they dropped consecutive 28-foot putts. On 18, Rahm birdied for the 61, Smith parred for the 64, and they’ll enter Sunday at 26-under and five shots clear of Daniel Berger, and six in front of Matt Jones, Sungjae Im and Patrick Cantlay. 

Whew.

Said Rahm: “We were both even-par through 4, and a combined, was it 21-under par between the two of us in the last 14 holes? Well, it’s golf, and it’s this golf course, right? The first few holes are birdieable, but you come out the gates, it’s almost like a little bit of a warmup, and then you get to 5, 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. It’s the second 61 of the day, and it looks like the 35th nine-under of the week as well, right?

“So it’s definitely a doable golf course, but you still have to hit the shots, and come tomorrow, we got to keep doing the same thing. We had a fun battle today, and I’m guessing tomorrow’s going to be more of the same. We’re going to need a lot of birdies to get ahead and get the win.”

A looks at the scoring

Among the scoring tidbits from Saturday:

— Rahm’s and Smith’s 26-under total missed the lowest opening 54-hole score in relation to par in PGA Tour history by a stroke. Patrick Reed was at 27-under in 2014. 

— Rahm and Thomas set the course record with a 12-under 61. Jones nearly matched it, with a 62. In all, according to the PGA Tour, the 38 players combined for an average score of 67.7, the lowest at Kapalua since the Tournament of Champions moved to the course in 1999. The previous record was 67.8 — set the day before.   

— Thomas, according to stats guru Justin Ray, became the sixth player over the past 10 PGA Tour seasons to improve his score by six shots in both rounds two and three. He opened with a 74 and shot a 67 on Friday. 

— Unless something funky happens, someone will likely set the 72-hole scoring record in relation. Ernie Els holds the mark, with a 31-under total at the Tournament of Champions in 2003. 

Why are the players going so slow? 

Good question. It’s part skill, part luck, part equipment, part no wind, part lots of rain ahead of the event. Part a lot of things. Thomas summed it all up well. 

“I think they, golf fans just need to understand what causes scores,” he said. “I think everybody, they just see, oh, they’re hitting it so far now, that’s why it’s so low. It’s like no, it’s so low because it’s so soft and if you give us soft conditions, fairways this big, course this short, we’re going to shoot nothing. Then if you give us not very much wind, we’re going to shoot even lower. So you look at a place like Pebble Beach. Pebble Beach is 68 or 6,900 yards and when it gets firm, it’s all you want. But you give us a place, what, Erin Hills was a bazillion yards and it was soft, and Brooks [Koepka] shot 16-under.” 

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The post ‘We’re going to shoot nothing’: Justin Thomas dishes on records, why players are scoring appeared first on Golf.

First, the news. Justin Thomas, two days after playing the first nine holes at the Tournament of Champions at two-over par, played all 18 of ’em on Saturday at 12-under. That’s a 61 on the Plantation Course at Kapalua. That makes him, after opening with rounds of 74 and 67, the sixth player over the past 10 PGA Tour seasons to improve by six shots over rounds two and three, according to stats guru Justin Ray. That’s a course record. 

“If there’s such a thing as an easy 12-under, I definitely felt like it was,” Thomas said. 

Now, the entertainment. After shooting that easy 12-under, and making eight birdies and two eagles, and racing up the leaderboard, Thomas wasn’t done performing. Course records will do that to ya. 

In an enlightening exchange with reporters afterward, Thomas dished on his very first record. And the 15-time major winner’s mark he broke. And what it means to go lower than anyone ever has. And just why players are going so low. (Also Saturday, Jon Rahm matched Thomas’ 61, and Matt Jones shot a 62. And Rahm and Cameron Smith are tied for the lead — at a whopping 27-under.)

With that, take it away, JT. 

Question: Do you remember the first time you ever set a course record?

Thomas: Yes. A Junior World practice round. I can’t remember the name of the golf course. It was — I was like probably 9 years old. It was like an executive course.

Question: In San Diego?

Thomas: Yeah. I don’t know. It was, but I just remember because Tiger [Woods] had the course record, and I remember beating him, and it was like the coolest thing obviously I had ever done at that time. Something tells me it’s not still standing. But I know I was — that was the first one I had ever broken, and I was pretty pumped about that.

Question: In recent years, have you mentioned that to him at all?

Thomas: I haven’t because it’s just, he’s going to say something back like and make me feel about this big, so …

Question: Do they mean something to you anymore?

Thomas: Course records?

Question: On both Tour stops in Hawaii now, I suppose. [Thomas also holds the low mark at the Sony Open.]

Thomas: Yeah. Yeah. I was trying to do it again today, but no, it, yeah, I mean, it’s a huge, I mean, it’s fun. Every golf course you go to, I mean, there’s a scorecard in the locker room. I mean, it’s pretty fun having a handful of buddies that live in Chicago that will go play Medinah every once in a while and they will send me pictures of my scorecard. It’s stuff like that, whether the people know me or not, or whether they know whoever shot the course record or not, it seems like that’s kind of a part of the club at that time. So it definitely means something.

Question: Have you ever gone to an, I don’t know how much recreational golf you play, gone to a course and found out what the course record was and make sure you didn’t break it just so, just to let the poor stiff keep his mark?

Thomas: No, I’m too competitive for that. To be perfectly honest, I don’t care about some stiff. I would much rather beat ’em.

Question: And lastly, we understand the conditions, which are about as perfect as it gets, and you guys are very good players, but is there a point or has there been a point recently where golf fans should just accept the fact that scores are coming down over the years?

Thomas: I think they, golf fans just need to understand what causes scores. I think everybody, they just see, oh, they’re hitting it so far now, that’s why it’s so low. It’s like no, it’s so low because it’s so soft and if you give us soft conditions, fairways this big, course this short, we’re going to shoot nothing. Then if you give us not very much wind, we’re going to shoot even lower. So you look at a place like Pebble Beach. Pebble Beach is 68 or 6,900 yards and when it gets firm, it’s all you want. But you give us a place, what, Erin Hills was a bazillion yards and it was soft, and Brooks [Koepka] shot 16-under.

Question: It’s no less entertaining, I wouldn’t think?

Thomas: I wouldn’t think so. I remember, I love watching the U.S. Open just for the carnage and seeing the tough conditions, but at the end of the day, a lot of it, there’s nothing you can do about the weather, but it’s course setup. You’re going to get certain parts of the country where you’re able to get a little firmer, a little faster and those scores are going to be higher because of that kind of thing.

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