Sunday Swing | Rahm Delivers Epic Comeback Win at Tournament of Champions

Welcome to the first edition of the Sunday Swing in 2023. This week, the PGA Tour kicked off the new year in Hawaii for the annual playing of the Sentry Tournament of Champions. The PGA Tour made a handful of schedule changes in the offseason including an increase in many of the tournament purses to record highs for the 2023 season and the Tournament of Champions is one of the beneficiaries. In 2022, the tournament was played for a purse of $8.2 million. This season, the Sentry Tournament of Champions has nearly doubled and now features a $15 million purse. 

Sentry Tournament of Champions - Tournament History 

Unlike every other PGA Tour event, the Plantation Course at Kapalua features a long, scorable par 73. The TOC dates back to 1953 and has been played annually on Tour ever since. Last year, the tournament AND PGA Tour scoring record was set by Australian phenom Cameron Smith who posted a 72-hole score of 34-under par. This year along with last year's champions, the players who qualified for the FedEx Cup finals last season were also invited to this event. Although the field looked a little different than it did a year ago, given its elevated status, we got to see an elite field to open the new year. The previous five champions of this event are as follows: 

• 2023 - Jon Rahm (-27)
• 2022 - Cameron Smith (PGA Tour Record -34)
• 2021 - Harris English (-25)
• 2020 - Justin Thomas (-14)
• 2019 - Xander Schauffele (-23) 

The Big Swing 

To kick off the 2023 season, this week's big swing goes to none other than the Spainard Jon Rahm, who entered the week ranked No. 5 in the world. While he didn’t play up to his standards in 2022, he was still able to pick up a PGA Tour victory and a pair of wins on the DP World Tour. This week at Kapalua, Rahm reminded everyone that he is still arguably the best in the world by pulling off a nearly impossible nine-shot comeback on Sunday. 

After opening the final round with a bogey at the first, Jon Rahm fell to nine shots behind the leader Collin Morikawa and victory seemed well out of reach. However, Rahm responded to the opening bogey by playing the next 17 holes in bogey-free 11-under par. Morikawa had seemingly been on cruise control all week and he even opened the final round with birdies on 3 of his first 6 holes to take a commanding lead over the field. After failing to make a birdie in the next 7 holes, Morikawa made three straight bogeys on holes 14-16, and his lead had suddenly evaporated. After turning in -4, Rahm caught fire and birdied holes 12, 13, and 14, followed by an eagle at the 15th. 

As he stood on the 18th tee with a 2-shot lead, Rahm knew that one final birdie would secure him his eighth Tour victory. After a nice chip from behind the 18th green, Rahm rolled in a four-foot birdie putt to cap off an excellent week on the greens in which he finished third in strokes gained: putting. More importantly however, he finished first on the leaderboard and kicked off the 2023 calendar year with an impressive performance.

Other notables who were in contention on Sunday included Max Homa (T3), Tom Kim (T5), Scottie Scheffler (T7), and Matthew Fitzpatrick (T7).

Winner’s Bag - Jon Rahm 

As a new season approaches, so do new product launches. Among the list of new launches this year is the Callaway Paradym, and Jon Rahm is now undefeated with his newest additions to the bag. This week his bag featured the Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond driver (10.5 degrees) and two Paradym Triple Diamond fairway woods (3-wood HL at 16 degrees and 5-wood at 18 degrees). Along with his new clubs, Rahm still plays his trusty Callaway Apex TCB irons (4-PW), and Callaway Apex UT (21 degrees). Powering his short game is a set of Callaway Jaws Raw wedges (52, 56, and 60 degrees) and an Odyssey Rossie S White Hot OG putter.