PGA Tour: Stock up, stock down after Cameron Smith wins Sentry Tournament of Champions

Cameron Smith held on to win the Sentry Tournament of Champions and we look at the PGA Tour golfers trending up and trending down after Kapalua. 

Birdie-lovers everywhere had to be rejoicing for four days straight with the Sentry Tournament of Champions underway at Kapalua to start the PGA Tour back up for 2022. And the low-scoring golf resulted in a titanic showdown between Cameron Smith and World No. 1 Jon Rahm. It was Smith, however, that outlasted his competition for a one-stroke wire-to-wire victory.

The Aussie set PGA Tour records all around with a 34-under score to par for the tournament, the lowest in history and at Kapalua. Rahm also set those records, or at least he would have had he won.

Alas, we have our first tournament champion of 2022. To try and move forward, though, we’re going to take stock of some of the 38 players in the field at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and see the notable players moving up and down after the week (as much as we can, at least).

And for what it’s worth, Rahm won’t be mentioned. He may not have won but he continued to show he’s the best in the world. Not hoisting the trophy is more a testament to Smith than it is any kind of indictment of the Spaniard.

PGA Tour: Stock up after Sentry Tournament of Champions

Cameron Smith – Obviously, whenever you have a golfer breaking every scoring record you can think of on the PGA Tour, he’s primed for big things.

We know that Cameron Smith is a phenomenal putter, one of the most reliable on the Tour in that facet of the game. However, he was dialed in throughout the bag, top-to-bottom, from Thursday until the 72nd hole. With his ability with the flat-stick, this form could lead to a big year from the mulleted Aussie.

Justin Thomas – When he fired off a horrendous (by this tournament’s standards) 1-over first round on Thursday and his bad putting showed up again, I was thoroughly worried. So for him to shoot 26-under over the final three days is a great sign. Thomas is always going to flush the ball but it’s his putter that kept him down last season. For it to only show up for one round as he’s shaking off rust should be taken as a positive sign.

Matt Jones – Jones actually had the course record at Kapalua for about 15 minutes before Smith and Rahm finished up, ultimately finishing outright third. However, this is another Aussie that you have to like what this finish could mean for him.

After winning the Honda Classic on last year’s Florida swing early in 2021, Jones’ form slipped quite a bit. In fact, this was his first top-10 finish since that victory. So to see him have the complete game — he gained strokes across the board — is a positive sign that he could be set to resume good form in 2022.

PGA Tour: Stock down after Sentry Tournament of Champions

Viktor Hovland – Granted, the fact that Hovland didn’t get his clubs until late in the week and had a broken drive when they arrived probably didn’t help his cause. That being said, it’s never a good thing when a player’s biggest problem — particularly when said player had won his last two starts — costs him tremendously. But Hovland lost over 6.0 strokes around the green and over 3.0 strokes putting. That’s not a great sign and the inconsistency in that area seems as if it could still plague the Norweigian.

Abraham Ancer – During a week when 20-under wasn’t in the top 10, Ancer got to only 10-under and finished T35 in a 38-player field.

On the whole, Ancer often doesn’t get the respect he deserves. However, he looked lost in almost every facet last week and lost strokes for the week in every category. That’s not a great start to 2022 for a talented player and, while you have to believe in his talent and overall body of work, it’s concerning to see him perform like this on an obviously getable course.

Bryson DeChambeau – Kapalua is interesting because so much of playing well isn’t necessarily about distance, which does limit DeChambeau’s overall advantage that he has on most other courses. Even then, it’s jarring to see the beefy golfer lose over 3.0 strokes from the tee on the week. In fact, he only gained with his approach numbers at 2.089. Bryson is always going to be a tad inconsistent but seeing such a middling performance didn’t raise any optimism.

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