Jon Rahm produced a stunning final round 63 to overturn a seven-shot deficit and win the PGA Tour’s Tournament of Champions in Hawaii by two shots.

“I needed to play good and he needed to make a couple mistakes,” said Rahm. “If you told me at the beginning of the round, after that opening bogey, I was going to do what I did I don’t know if I would have believed you.”

It was a third win in six starts for Rahm – after winning in Spain and Dubai late in 2022 – and an eighth PGA Tour title. 

Rahm’s round started badly. The 28-year-old missed a seven-foot par putt on the first to fall eight shots behind Morikawa but had five birdies in his next eight holes to improve to 21 under par after nine.  However, Morikawa also had a solid front nine, with three birdies taking his score to 27 under at the turn.

Rahm then had three successive birdies from the 12th before carding an eagle three at the par-five 15th to move within one of the lead. Moments later he was joint leader, benefiting from Morikawa thinning a bunker shot across the 14th green and dropping his first shot of the tournament.

“At that point I got in the thick of things and never did I think that going into my third shot on 17 I was going to have a one-shot lead,” said Rahm, who missed the green with his second shot on his penultimate hole. “That’s when I had to change a bit of the mindset of chasing and needing birdies to, ‘let’s get this up-and-down, hopefully birdie 18 and give ourselves the best chance’.”

Rahm led because Morikawa dropped another shot on the 15th. He duffed a simple chip and then missed a seven-foot putt for par. And his short game let him down again on the par-four 16th after a superb drive left him with a 55-yard pitch for his second. He misjudged the spin on his ball and it ended up 70 feet from the hole and he could only three-putt from there.

Rahm suddenly led by two and picked up another birdie on the 648-yard par-five last hole after finding the green in two shots and two-putting from 65 feet. Morikawa also completed the final hole in four shots but his birdie proved scant consolation with Rahm completing the biggest comeback victory in the tournament’s history.

“You work so hard and you give yourself these opportunities,” said the 2021 Open winner, who matched the PGA Tour record held by seven other players of squandering a six-shot lead in the final round.  “I just made three poor swings, really, at the wrong times. It’s never a good time to put a poor swing on it, but sometimes it works out and these never worked out. I don’t know what I’m going to learn from this week, but it just didn’t seem like it was that far off. It really wasn’t. Yeah, it sucks.”

Fellow Americans Tom Hoge (64) and Max Homa (66) were joint third on 23 under. Matt Fitzpatrick ended alongside Masters winner Scottie Scheffler – who could have returned to world number one with a higher finish this week – on 21 under after both carded closing 70s.

As well as being superb result for Rahm, the Spaniard’s victory also provided a huge endorsement for his equipment sponsor Callaway, which only last week officially launched the new Paradym range of woods and irons, several of which were in Rahm’s bag.  Rahm put the Paradym Triple Diamond driver straight into the bag for this week, and averaged 317.3 yards off the tee –around ten yards more than the field average – whilst his driving accuracy (73.33%) was significantly better than the field (51.67%).  Rahm also had two Paradym Triple Diamond fairway woods in play.

JON RAHM’S WINNING GEAR

Driver: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond (10.5°)
Fairway woods: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond (16°)
Irons: Callaway Apex TCB (4-PW)
Wedges: Callaway JAWS Raw (52°, 56°, 60°)
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG Rossie S
Ball: Callaway Chrome Soft X 

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The feud between the two richest powers in golf continues. A few days after Tiger Woods echoed Rory McIlroy’s sentiment that Greg Norman needs to be removed at the CEO of LIV Golf before LIV and the PGA Tour can peacefully coexist, Norman retaliated with some fire remarks of his own. In an exclusive interview with Today’s Golfer, Norman offered up a rebuttal for Woods and McIlroy.

“I pay zero attention to McIlroy and Woods, right?,” Norman said. “They have their agenda for whatever reason. They’re saying whatever they want to say. It has no bearing or effect on me. I’m going to be with LIV for a long, long period of time.

“When the monopolist’s territory is getting threatened, they’re going to rear their ugly head up and do what they do. But from my whole perspective, I’ve always taken the high road this year. I will continue to take the high road because I believe in our business model. I believe in our people, I believe in the players’ independent rights, and we’ve already seen a dramatic shift in our audience.”

Norman’s response stems from Woods backing up his friend McIlroy leading up to the Hero World Challenge event he hosts annually in the Bahamas last week. 

“I think Greg has to go, first of all,” Woods said. “Then obviously litigation against us and then our countersuit against them, those would then have to be at a stay as well. So then we can talk, we can all talk freely.”

Woods reiterated his feelings later in the press conference. 

“Right now as it is, not right now, not with their leadership, not with Greg there and his animosity towards the Tour itself,” Woods said about potential peace talks. “I don’t see that happening. As Rory said, and I said it as well, I think Greg’s got to leave and then we can eventually, hopefully, have a stay between the two lawsuits and figure something out.”

McIlroy, who has said something very similar to Woods about Norman needing to be ousted, might take exception to Norman’s comment about taking the high road. He told a story recently to Paul Kimmage of the Independent about how he and Norman had a nice conversation about Norman’s career struggles at Augusta National and more or less made amends on everything. Then, it went sour.

“Then, a couple of weeks later, he does an interview with The Washington Post and says I’ve been ‘brainwashed by the PGA Tour’,” said McIlroy. “I’m like ‘For f**k sake!’ We’ve had this really nice back-and-forth and he says that about me. I thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to make it my business now to be as much of a pain in his arse as possible.'”

There have been rumors in recent weeks that Norman will be stepping aside as LIV CEO. Whether that actually happens remains to be seen, but it’s clear that there is disdain for him from the most important folks on the other side.

“I am not going anywhere,” Norman said. “I don’t care what anybody says. I’m not going anywhere. I am so proud of the position I am in and maybe, maybe, it’s my leadership that has them scared. Maybe…”

Maybe.

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Simon Forsström will take a two-shot lead into the fourth round of Final Stage Qualifying School after posting a brilliant seven under par 65 on the Hills Course at INFINITUM.

The Swede carded eight birdies and just one bogey to move to 15 under par at the halfway stage, two ahead of Englishman Daniel Brown and Denmark’s John Axelsen.

Forsström was delighted to climb to the top of the leaderboard in Tarragona and credited his iron play for his strong performance on day three.

“I’m really happy with my game today,” he said. “I focussed on hitting one-shot at a time, not stressing and luckily I ended up at the top of the leaderboard. My ball-striking was incredible, and I think it is probably the best I have ever hit the ball.”

The 33-year-old impressed on the Challenge Tour this season finishing 42nd in the money list having played just 11 events, and he is now targeting a DP World Tour card with the top 25 and ties this week earning top tier playing privileges.

“I know we are only at the halfway point so anything can happen which means I need to focus on the rest of the week,” he said. “I played really well on the Challenge Tour this year and I think I have taken that confidence into this week. t would mean everything for me to achieve a DP World Tour card because I have never played there before so it would be life-changing for me.”

Sweden’s Niklas Lemke sits in fourth position on 12 under par, while Englishman Sam Hutsby is a shot further back in fifth. Spanish duo Alejandro Del Rey and Manuel Elvira share sixth place with Ireland’s Gary Hurley and Frenchman Joël Stalter on ten under par.

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Italy’s Guido Migliozzi won the French Open by a single shot after making a stunning birdie at the final hole courtesy of a majestic high-risk approach to the the 18th green at Le Golf National in Paris.

The 25-year-old was in supreme form all day the 2018 Ryder Cup venue, making nine birdies  – including a run of five in succession from the sixth – without a single dropped shot. He saved the best until last when, tied for the lead and staring down an 18th hole, Migliozzi cut a courageous faded five-iron into the famous final green which came within inches of finding the cup for an incredible eagle two. He knocked in the five-foot putt for the first of only two birdies at the final hole all day, equalling the course record of 62 for a 16 under total.

Rasmus Højgaard, who had led the tournament after each of the opening three rounds – and was six shots clear after 36 holes – finished a shot back on 15 under par after a three-under 68, while Paul Barjon finished the highest Frenchman as he shared third place with Thomas Pieters and George Coetzee on 11 under.

Migliozzi, whose previous to Tour wins came in 2019, said:  “It’s been a long, long road to get here from those wins three years ago. I played very solid last year and went very close to a win, so I came into this season with lots of high expectations. But it has been tough and I’ve not be playing great. Then I started to practice in another way, I’ve worked really hard, and here I am now holding a trophy. The second shot at 18 was incredible. My caddie was not happy, as it was not the safe play, but I felt that it was worth a try and luckily for me, it paid off.”

He added: “My main goal for the next year is to qualify for the Ryder Cup in Rome. To present Europe in my home country would be a dream, so we’ll keep pushing on.”

Højgaard, whose big 36-hole lead was wiped out by a costly quintuple bogey on the par-three second hole on Saturday, said: “Obviously there’s a lot of good stuff out there. it was a few silly mistakes over the last two days that cost me the win this week, but I’m happy with where my golf is heading towards. I’m striking the ball well and I’m putting nice. I just have to take the positives from this week. It obviously stings a little bit at the moment, but later tonight I’ll be looking back and I’ve got a lot to be proud of, especially after what happened yesterday.”

For the final leaderboard, click here. 

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NAPA, Calif. (AP) — Justin Lower weathered the wind and birdied the 18th hole Saturday to take a one-shot lead into the final round of the season-opening Fortinet Championship.

Lower shot a 3-under 69 to get to 13 under at Silverado Resort & Spa, with his fifth birdie of the round giving him his first career 54-hole lead in his 29th start on the PGA Tour. He’s looking for his first tour victory.

Defending champion Max Homa and Danny Willett were a shot back after even-par 72s. Byeong Hun An had a 71 to get to 11 under.

While several players who went out early in the day posted low scores in good playing conditions, the course got much harder late in the day when the wind picked up to wreak havoc on the players.

Willett took several minutes on the eighth green clearing off blowing leaves just before making a birdie putt that put him briefly in the lead at 13 under.

Workers with leaf blowers came out on the next hole to keep the green clean but Willett made a double-bogey 7 after his approach shot flew past the green.

There were few birdie chances available with players happy with pars late in the day. That led to a very condensed leaderboard with eight players within three shots of the lead headed into Sunday.

An moved into a one-shot lead when he hit a solid tee shot on the par-3 15th came and then made a birdie from about 6 feet to get to 13 under. But he gave it back and more with a double bogey in the par-5 16th when his second shot got caught near the root of a tree.

That opened the door for Lower, who put his second shot on the par-5 18th just off the green and then made the short birdie putt.

It’s been quite a few weeks for Lower, who appeared to lose his tour card after three-putting the final home of the Wyndham Championship for a bogey when he only needed a par to remain in he top 125. But after more defections to the LIV Tour, Lower moved back into the top 125 and is taking advantage of it in the first tournament of the new season.

Conditions aren’t expected to be much better in the final round, which has already been altered by an ominous forecast with rain and wind. The leaders will tee off several hours earlier than scheduled with the final round featuring threesomes off split tees.

Davis Thompson and Harrison Endycott shot the low rounds of the day with 65s that left Harrison in a four-way tie for fifth place with Paul Haley II, Matt Kuchar and Adam Svensson. Endycott was a stroke behind in a four-way tie for ninth.

Endycott the first player out on the course and played as a single in his first career tournament make the cut with a birdie on the the final hole of the second round. He overcame a broken driver early in that round and was happy to have all of his clubs available Saturday.

“Definitely helps when you’ve got a driver in the bag after yesterday’s shenanigans with the cracked driver face,” he said. “This golf course is tough hitting 3-wood everywhere. So it was nice to get freed up, played some good golf today.”

Haley, who had gone 3,315 days between appearances on the tour from the 2013 Wyndham Championship and the start of this tournament, was tied with Thompson in the group at 10 under after a 66.

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