On the eve of the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii world number one Dustin Johnson said nine wins or more a season was possible. Last season he won four times, and was probably thwarted from further success after suffering a pre-US Masters injury that kept him off the fairways for an extended period, so the comment was not entirely fanciful. The American was answering a question posed at the pre-tournament press conference. For the record… Vijay Singh won nine times in 2004 after Tiger Woods had set that modern-day mark in 2000 (also collecting eight in both 1999 and 2006); while Ben Hogan won 13 in 1946 and 10 in 1948.
After he surged to an eight-stroke victory at Kapalua (with a 24-under total of 268), competing in the year’s first tournament following the winter break, against a field comprising 34 of last year’s champions (with a couple of notable exceptions in Sergio García and Justin Rose), few would back Johnson not to achieve the feat.
It was Johnson’s 17th U.S. PGA Tour victory and he has now won at least one event in all 11 of his seasons since his rookie year in 2008 – the longest active streak on the Tour. Only Tiger Woods, with 18 wins, has more in that span.
“It's a good start if I want to do it. I got off to the right start, for sure,” smiled Johnson. “Winning every year out here on 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.”
Johnson 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”. When he was in this sort of mood a year ago he won three straight events at the Genesis Open, World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship and World Golf Championships-Dell Match Play.
One of his closest challengers during that 2017 run was Jon Rahm, and once again he finished runner-up (16-under 276) behind the American .
He never really contended for the title on the Sunday but, according to the Tour in its report of the finale, “the Spanish sensation continues to climb in the estimation of many. His runner-up finish was his fourth on the PGA Tour and he’s just beginning his second season. The result will push him to third in the world rankings behind only Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth. Clearly he is a super talent who could easily add to his lone PGA Tour win at any moment.”
Rahm himself observed about trying to push even higher, “If I keep playing good, keep working, keep learning about myself, I just need to keep getting better scores without my A game like I have this week. Hopefully I can keep playing good and maybe someday be number one. If it's not meant to be, it's not meant to be, but it's definitely one of my goals.”
At 23, Rahm became the fourth youngest player to rise to number three in the world rankings, behind only Tiger Woods, Spieth and Rory McIlroy.
Other results in Hawaii: Ricky Fowler, Hideki Matsuyama 278, Mark Leishman 279, Jordan Spieth 280, Justin Thomas 288.
Meanwhile, Tiger Woods has announced on Twitter that he will make his PGA Tour return, after a one-year absence, in the Farmers Insurance Open on 25-28 January.
