Johnson kicks off 2018 in style with Hawaii win

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World No 1 Dustin Johnson surged to an eight-shot victory with a sterling performance at the Sentry Tournament of Champions.

The American closed with an eightunder-par 65 to take the title by a sizeable margin from closest competitor Jon Rahm in Hawaii.

The 33-year-old followed up rounds of 69, 68 and 66 by taking four birdies on the front nine, and a back nine which included an eagle on the par-four 12th.

Johnson got a great roll from his 430-yard tee shot to land within inches of the pin and tapped in for two, with the only blemish on his Sunday card coming on the par-three 11th.

Spain’s Rahm carded a 69 in his final round to edge out American Brian Rahman (72) in second, with Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama tied for fourth after getting an eagle and two birdies in the last four holes.

Australian Marc Leishman, who was the joint leader at the halfway stage but carded a 76 on Saturday, finished tied for seventh on 13 under, while Jordan Spieth was a shot behind and finished ninth.

Johnson has now won at least one PGA Tour event in all 11 of his seasons since 2008, the longest active streak on tour. Only Tiger Woods, with 18 wins, has more in that span.

Johnson has revealed he is striving for the eight-victories mark this season, having enjoyed his best single season mark last year when he won on four occasions.

“It’s a good start if I want to do it. I got off to the right start, for sure,” he told pgatour.com

“Winning every year out here on the Tour so far is big for me. I’m very proud of being able to do that. It’s not easy to win out here.

“A lot of seasons I’ve only had one win, but last year was my most and hopefully I can do even better than that this year.”

The 2016 US Open winner says when he’s at his best he feels “unbeatable” and “would welcome any comers”.

“I want a lot more wins. First I want to get to 20, then 30 and once there 40,” he added.

Last year he won three straight events at the Genesis Open, World Golf Championships – Mexico Championship and the World Golf Championships – Dell Match Play.

He was headed to the Masters at Augusta in April as a clear favourite before slipping on stairs and injuring his back on the eve of the tournament

He was forced into taking a break from the sport and suffered a lull of results on his return before finding his feet again with victory in the first FedEx Cup play-off event, The Northern Trust, his 16th Tour title.