Cameron Smith, Jon Rahm get PGA Tour in 2022 off to a running start

Cameron Smith and Jon Rahm smashed all kinds of scoring records as the Aussie beat the World No. 1 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions

Golf legend Bobby Jones once said of Jack Nicklaus that he plays a game “which I’m not even familiar with.” Nobody — not Jones, not Nicklaus, not anybody in the long annals of the PGA Tour—is familiar with the golf played this week in Kapalua, for the display put on by Cameron Smith and Jon Rahm has never been done before.

Rahm, the World No. 1, made 32 birdies, an eagle, and only one bogey over the Plantation Course. He still didn’t win. Instead, the name that will top the PGA Tour record books is a mullet-wearing, smooth putter from Australia.

Smith’s 34-under on his way to winning the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Sunday is a new record for lowest 72-hole score. Ernie Els had set the old record, 31-under, at this very tournament on the same course nearly 20 years ago. Smith passed him with room to spare, tying Els with a birdie on the par-four 13th.

Three more birdies, including at the par-five finishing hole, allowed him to hold off Rahm by one shot. Smith shot 65 or better in all four trips around the par-73 course. After beginning his second round with back-to-back bogeys, he played his final 52 holes in 28-under with no bogeys.

With fairways the size of football fields, no wind to speak of, and greens with not a single blemish on them, the course proved no match for the game’s best players. Five players shot a round of 62 or better this week. Matt Jones, like Smith a native of Australia, shot 23-under on the weekend, a record for the lowest 36-hole score. He was, officially, the first player in PGA Tour history to finish a tournament at 32-under, a record which stood for about 20 minutes.

Then Smith and Rahm came through the 18th, Rahm’s putt for a closing eagle to force a playoff just missing to the right.

“Well, this golf course only has one defense and that’s the wind. If people are shooting between 20 and 26-under with 20 mph winds, what do you expect us to do when there’s absolutely no wind,” Rahm, suffering another painful defeat, said. “I think that’s the difference. I’m not surprised…I think those 30- and 31-unders deserve a lot more credit than my 33-under.”

Hot start portends a good year on PGA Tour for Cameron Smith and Jon Rahm

Rahm only solidified his standing as the game’s best to begin 2022. He hadn’t played a PGA Tour event since September, but the long layoff didn’t seem to affect him. In his last nine starts he’s won the U.S. Open, had to withdraw from the Memorial with a six-shot lead, shot the best 72-hole score at the Tour Championship but lost the FedEx Cup to Patrick Cantlay, and now shot 33-under in a week that would’ve been good enough to win any other event in PGA Tour history easily.

Smith got the trophy — the fourth of his career — the scoring record, and the momentum going forward the rest of the season. In his last four seasons, Smith has never finished better than 116th in Strokes Gained: Off the Tee. He led the field in that category this week. He was also the best putter under the blue Hawaiian skies, a potentially potent combination for a player who will crack the top-10 in the world for the first time.

“To be honest, I’m not a massive golf nerd, I guess. I don’t really know about records. I’m just out there to — just to compete against the best players in the world,” he said, a traditional Hawaiian lei around his neck.

“I’m going to get a lot of confidence out of this week. To hold off Johnny over the weekend was obviously a massive thing.”

This was just week one. There’s plenty more to come in the coming months on the PGA Tour. Smith and Rahm just got the year off to a fabulous start.