Justin Thomas wins Sony Open with the lowest 72-hole score in PGA Tour history.
HONOLULU — Challenged only by the record book, Justin Thomas won the Sony Open on Sunday with the lowest 72-hole score in PGA Tour history.
Thomas capped off a week at Waialae that began with a 59 and ended with his second consecutive victory. He closed with a 5-under-par 65 to set the record at 253. Tommy Armour III shot 254 at the 2003 Texas Open.
“It’s been an unbelievable week. Unforgettable,” Thomas said. Make that two weeks. The 23-year-old from Kentucky won the SBS Tournament of Champions at Kapalua last week by three strokes and then destroyed the full field at the Sony Open to win by seven shots. Thomas is the first player since Tiger Woods in 2009 (Buick Open and Bridgestone Invitational) to win back-to-back weeks by three or more shots.
“I felt like I was trying to win a tournament for second place,” Jordan Spieth said, summing up the helpless feeling of everyone.
That honor went to Justin Rose, who closed with a 64 to finish alone in second. Spieth shot a 63 to finish alone in third.
The first full-field event of the year on the PGA Tour was a one-man show.
Thomas began the final round with a seven-shot lead, and no one got closer than five shots all day. His only nervous moment was an eight-foot par putt on the sixth hole when he was five shots ahead. He made that, and the rest of the day was a Pacific breeze. In other golf news: • Graeme Storm beat Rory McIlroy on the third playoff hole in the SA Open at Johannesburg for his second European Tour title, 80 days after the Englishman lost his tour card by 100 euros. After the 251st-ranked Storm tapped in for a par, the secondranked McIlroy slid his par putt wide from seven feet on their fourth visit to the 18th hole at Glendower Golf Club. Storm closed with a 1-under 71 to match McIlroy (68) at 18-under 270. Storm lost his card at the end of last year, only to get a reprieve when American Patrick Reed failed to play enough events to keep his card.
• Woody Austin completed a wire-to-wire victory in the Diamond Resorts Invitational, and former pitcher Mark Mulder took the celebrity title. Austin, who opened with an 11-under 59, closed with a 6-under 66 on the Four Seasons Resort’s Tranquilo course at Orlando, Fla., earning 31 points in the modified Stableford scoring system to finish the three-round event at 104 — eight points ahead of second-place Joe Durant. Mulder rallied to top the celebrity division, scoring 30 points in a 67 to finish with 77 points. Lexi Thompson was 11th with 83 points to top the four LPGA Tour players in the professional field.