Tournament of Champions: Jon Rahm claims win as Morikawa blows seven-shot lead

Jon Rahm claimed the Sentry Tournament of Champions on the PGA Tour after Collin Morikawa collapsed with a disastrous back nine in Hawaii.

Ben Smith

09 Jan 2023

Tournament of Champions: Jon Rahm claims win as Morikawa blows seven-shot lead — Tournament of Champions: Jon Rahm claims win as Morikawa blows seven-shot…

Collin Morikawa endured an almighty collapse in Kapalua as Jon Rahm went crazy low on Sunday to claim the Sentry Tournament of Champions on the PGA Tour.

Morikawa began the day with a six-shot advantage at the Plantation Course in Hawaii and at one point his lead stretched to as many as seven strokes.

The two-time major champion was faultless through 54 holes and didn't make a single bogey.

But the American began to unravel on the back nine when he dropped a shot at 14 after chunking a greenside chip.

Two more bogeys followed at the easiest holes on the course and Morikawa then trailed Rahm by two.

Morikawa looked visibly stunned as his caddie placed a hand on his shoulder to try and console his player.

Rahm - who was filmed having another temper tantrum - began his day with an unwelcome bogey.

Perhaps the anger from the dropped shot served as motivation as the Spanish World No. 5 then went on an absolute tear.

Rahm made birdie at 2, 4, 5, 6 and 9 to turn in 4-under. On the back nine he birdied 12, 13, 14 and eagled 15.

At the par-5 closing hole, Rahm flushed his approach from 259 yards and managed to get-up-and down for birdie to card a 63, matching the low-round of the week at 10-under.

Morikawa - waiting on the tee box behind - could only stand and shake his head as he needed a miracle after seeing he was now three strokes behind Rahm who had reached 27-under.

This was the ninth time in PGA Tour history that a player with a six stroke lead or better through 54 holes has failed to convert the win.

"He's got scar tissue now," the commentator said. Morikawa previously blew a five-stroke lead at the Hero World Challenge in 2021.

This was Rahm's eighth PGA Tour victory. He picked up a bumper cheque of $2.7m from the $15m prize pool.

The tournament was the first of 13 events to be played on the PGA Tour that have been given "elevated" status.

It was previously announced a number of events were to have bigger prize purses in an attempt to combat LIV Golf.

Elsewhere, Scottie Scheffler finished inside the top-10. He needed to finish T-3 or better to remove Rory McIlroy from the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking.

Rahm said:

"You know, if you had told me at the beginning of the round that I had to do what I did and shoot [that number] I wouldn't have believed you.

"At that point winning was not on my mind, I just had to get to work and start making birdies, it allowed me to get into a rhythm."

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