Cam Smith sets PGA Tour scoring record with win at Sentry Tournament of Champions

Cameron Smith and Jon Rahm put on the type of birdie barrage at the Sentry Tournament of Champions where it didn’t seem fair that one of them had to lose. In the end, the 28-year-old Aussie answered every birdie by the World No. 1 with one of his own, shooting 8-under 65 in the final round for a one-stroke victory in Hawaii.

“Mate, it was intense,” he said. “Unreal round, something I’ll never forget for sure.”

It was a record-shattering performance as a soft and defenseless Plantation Course at Kapalua took another beating to par. On another glorious windless day, Smith signed for a total of 34-under 258, the most under par in a 72-hole event since 1950. Smith, who won the Sony Open in Hawaii in 2020, also completed the Hawaii double.

“Hawaii reminds me so much of where I grew up, it’s insane,” he said. “The grass that we hit off, the greens being quite slow and grainy. Yeah, it’s awesome, I love it here.”

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Smith proved once again that he’s capable of being a big-game hunter and more than just a golfer with a mullet beloved on social media. He previously knocked off Justin Thomas in singles at the 2019 Presidents Cup. This time, he dueled Rahm, the U.S. Open champion and World No. 1, head-to-head over the weekend. In the final round, Smith jumped in front with a birdie at the fourth hole, wedging to 5 feet and going out in 32 to lead by two.

“I think the biggest difference was those first six holes today should have been a little bit better,” said Rahm, who managed just one birdie during that stretch.

He cut the deficit to one with a birdie at 11, but Smith, who loves to fish nearly every day when he is home in Florida, reeled in three birdies in a row starting at No. 13 to match Rahm birdie for birdie.

Rahm, who set the Tour record for the most birdies in a 72-hole event with 32, pushed Smith to the finish line, forcing him to make one more birdie from 3 feet, 6 inches at the last hole to clinch his fourth career Tour title.

Smith made only three bogeys during the tournament and none over the weekend 36. He opened with 65 and followed with a pair of 64s but that was only good enough to share the 54-hole lead with Rahm, who established a tournament 18-hole scoring record on Saturday with a round of 61 (set earlier in the day by Justin Thomas.) The third-round scoring average (67.711) was the lowest in a single round since the event moved to The Plantation Course in 1999.

Cameron Smith is congratulated by Jon Rahm (left) after Smith won on the 18th hole during the final round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions golf tournament at Kapalua Resort – The Plantation Course. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports

“Golf fans just need to understand what cause 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,” said Thomas, who apparently considers 7,600-yard courses to be ‘short’ these days. “Then if you give us not very much wind, we’re going to shoot even lower.”

Matt Jones, who shot 62-61 on the weekend, was the third player to set the course record and break Ernie Els’ 31-under total record for 72-hole score in relation to par, which Els set at this tournament in 2003. Jones finished alone in third. It wasn’t lost on Rahm how ridiculously well both he and Jones played and neither went home with a trophy.

“It’s kind of weird when you look forward in the records that there’s two of us that beat (the lowest 72-hole) score and lost by one and two,” he said.

Reigning FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay (67) was alone in fourth, a distant eight strokes behind Smith. Collin Morikawa, the World No. 2, fired a 62 on Sunday to finish in a tie for fifth with Thomas and Daniel Berger.

Smith’s victory continues an interesting trend of alternating victories between New Orleans and Hawaii. His first win was the Zurich Classic of New Orleans in 2017 with Jonas Blixt. His second came at the 2020 Sony Open in Hawaii. He then again won the Zurich last year with fellow Aussie Marc Leishman before his win this week at Kapalua.

Smith didn’t waste any time achieving one of his goals for the new year – he climbed into the top 10 in the world for the first time in his career.

“That’s really cool,” he said. “It’s nice that that’s done and dusted. Hopefully I can keep cruising up those world rankings.”