China collapse was the spur for Johnson’s win in Hawaii
Dustin Johnson exorcised some of his Shanghai demons as the world No 1 started 2018 by storming to an eight-shot success in the PGA Tour’s Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii.
The 33-year-old signed off with an eight-under-par 65 at Kapalua to claim his second victory in the event, repeating his 2013 triumph by a sizeable margin in the limited-field event.
Helped by an eagle-2 at the par-4 12th, where he almost had a hole in one, in the final round, Johnson finished with a 24-under-par 268 total as he ended up well clear of his closest challenger, Spaniard Jon Rahm, with American Brian Harman a shot further back in third place.
The manner of the win was particularly pleasing for Johnson after he had blown a sixshot lead the last time he was out in front heading into the final day. That was in the WGCHSBC Champions in China late last year, when Justin Rose was the beneficiary of a spectacular collapse by the American.
“I didn’t want to let up on the back nine, especially after what had happened in Shanghai,” admitted Johnson as he savoured his 17th PGA Tour triumph. “I wanted to prove to myself that ain’t going to happen again. So I definitely came out today with a lot of focus.”
Johnson has now won at least once for the past 11 seasons on the PGA Tour – a streak bettered only by Tiger Woods. “Winning every year out here on Tour so far is big for me,” he added. “A lot of seasons I’ve only had one win, but last year was my most [four] and hopefully I can do even better than that this year.”
Rahm, the DP World Tour champion, carded a 69 in his final round to edge out Harman (72) for second spot. The effort lifted Rahm to world No 3 – at 23, the fourth youngest player in history to reach as high as that in the rankings.