Cameron Smith shot down world No 1 Jon Rahm in an exciting final-round duel on the Event of Champions in Hawaii to win the opening US PGA Tour occasion of the yr in report trend.
Smith closed out his week with an eight-under-par 65 to complete at a PGA Tour report 34 underneath and one stroke away from taking part in companion Rahm and safe a wire-to-wire victory in Maui after each began the ultimate day sharing the lead.
Ernie Els received at 31 underneath in 2003, and that was the PGA Tour report for photographs underneath par.
Whereas Smith grew to become the fourth Australian to win the event, his compatriot Matt Jones charged residence with two eagles on the again 9 in a glowing 61 to seize third spot at 32 underneath par as he additionally took benefit of the beneficial scoring circumstances on the Plantation Course on the Kapalua Resort.
Nobody has gone decrease in TOUR historical past. 💪 pic.twitter.com/Kf1qpnHxN0
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 10, 2022
“Mate, it was intense. Jonny and I performed effectively the entire day and we had Matty within the group in entrance lighting it up as effectively,” Smith stated moments after this fourth win on the PGA Tour. “Unreal spherical, one thing I’ll always remember for certain.”
Smith made eight birdies together with one on the 18th in a bogey-free spherical however was by no means greater than two photographs forward on Sunday as Rahm (66) remained in competition and Jones backed up a 62 a day in the past with an much more exceptional 18 holes to set a PGA Tour report for the bottom two-round rating.
Jones’s spherical included holing out for eagle on the thirteenth and a 4-foot eagle putt on the fifteenth as he made a number of eagles for the second successive day.
However Smith, a two-time winner of the groups occasion in New Orleans, was not be denied as he held his nerve as soon as once more in Hawaii so as to add to his maiden particular person success on the Sony Open two years in the past.
“I used to be simply making an attempt to hit one shot at a time, I do know that sounds cliche,” he stated. “We spoke about it earlier within the day that we needed to get to 35 underneath. We missed it by one so in that sense disappointing however completely happy to return away with the W.”
The victory units up Smith for an enormous yr, having now received on tour for 3 successive seasons.
“I really feel like I had a extremely good relaxation. I didn’t play a lot within the fall and really did some work on my swing and it got here out,” he stated.
Of the opposite three Australian within the 38-man discipline on the winners-only begin to the brand new yr, Cam Davis (66) and Marc Leishman (68) shared tenth locations at 23 underneath par whereas Lucas Herbert was effectively again after a 74 dropped him to eight underneath.
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