PGA Tour Event Recap: Reviewing The 2016 Hyundai Tournament Of Champions

The new golf year began in similar fashion for the best golfer in the world as the top-ranked Jordan Spieth delivered a dominant victory at the 2016 Hyundai Tournament of Champions. It was supposed to be a challenging event due to the field as the Hyundai Tournament of Champions only invites the winners from the events played in 2015. However, while the field was tough, the course apparently wasn’t. Jordan Spieth tore it up while a number of other golfers did the same. Every single player in the Top 15 had a score of -14 or lower, which shows just how low the scores the golfers were getting. Pretty much everyone involved had a great day as all but two golfers that made the cut finished with a score above par (Americans J.J. Henry and James Hahn).

Spieth set the tone early in the event by cruising to a 66 in the opening round. That paved the way for a record-setting victory, sending a message to the golfing world that he once again plans to make the PGA Tour his playground this season.

Tournament Recap

Spieth hit a birdie putt on the final hole of the tournament to finish the final round with a six-under-67 and an eight-shot victory over Patrick Reed at the Hyundai Tournament of Champions. Spieth’s 30-under 262 for the tournament made him the second player in PGA Tour history to finish a 72-hole event at 30-under or better, joining Ernie Els after the latter did it at Kapalua in 2003. Spieth took the PGA Tour by storm a year ago when he marched to No. 1 in the world and he opened 2016 by tying Tiger Woods for wins by a player 22-years-old or younger with seven. It’s no surprise that Spieth finished first in total putts with just 111 over four rounds and also led the way in strokes gained, as his putting remains in a class of its own right now.

Biggest Surprise

Considering how dominant Spieth was from start to finish the biggest surprise might very well have been the fact that Patrick Reed actually got within five shots of him on the par-five ninth before Spieth answered with two birdie putts of his own to extend his lead again. Reed stalled a bit on the back nine and his bogey-free round would end on the 15^th hole as he finished with a 69, ultimately finishing eight strokes back of Spieth for the victory. Another name that kept coming up over the weekend as a major surprise was Padraig Harrington, who tied for sixth. It was Harrington’s first top-10 finish since he surprised everyone with a win at the Honda Classic last March and he followed that victory up by missing the cut in seven of the next 12 events before undergoing surgery in the offseason. Harrington said after the tournament that he felt so weak that he needed to take a cart but he managed to earned a big cheque so he had to be happy about his surprisingly strong finish.

Biggest Disappointment

The fact that a course that has been known as one of the easiest on tour gave up 24 bogey-free rounds should be no surprise as the majority of golfers fared well but it had to be disappointing for Brooks Koepka to follow up a solid first three rounds by shooting a 71 in the final round and dropping to a tied for third with Brandt Snedeker at 21-under for the tournament. Koepka still took home a nice cheque for finishing in the top-five but he narrowly missed out on a runner-up finish and had to be disappointed with the way his final round played out after shooting 69, 68 and then 63 before the rough finish.