America’s Justin Thomas won the Sony Open with the lowest 72-hole score in PGA Tour history.
The 23-year-old from Kentucky capped off his week at Waialae that began with a 59 with his second straight victory. He two-putted birdie from 60 feet on the par-5 18th and closed with a 5-under 65 to set the record at 253 – beating Tommy Armour III’s 254 set at the 2003 Texas Open.
Thomas, who is now ranked eighth in the world, won the previous week’s SBS Tournament of Champions at Kapalua by three shots, then destroyed the field at the Sony Open to win by seven shots. In doing so, he became the first player since Tiger Woods in 2009 (Buick Open and Bridgestone Invitational) to win back-to-back weeks by three shots or more.
“I felt like I was trying to win a tournament for second place,” said Jordan Spieth, summing up the helpless feeling of everyone, although that honour went to Justin Rose, who closed with a 64 to finish alone in second. Spieth shot a 63 to finish third.
Thomas began the final round with a seven-shot lead and no one got closer than five. His only nervous moment was an eight-foot par putt on the sixth hole, when he was five shots ahead. He made that, and the rest of the day was a breeze.
Thomas joined Ernie Els in 2003 as the only players to win both events in Hawaii. He was a combined 49 under par for the two events, compared with Els at 47 under. Thomas also joined Johnny Miller (1974 and 1975) and Tiger Woods (2003, 2008, 2013) as the only players since 1970 to win three of the their first five starts in a PGA Tour season. It started last autumn with the CIMB Classic in Malaysia.