(Kapalua) Jon Rahm is getting used to low scores on the Kapalua Plantation Course. He can only hope that start leads to a happier ending at this edition of the PGA Tour of Champions.
A year after finishing 33-under and still finishing second, Rahm birdied three times on his last four holes to post a 64 (minus-9) on Thursday. He took the lead in the standings with Colin Morikawa and JJ Spaun in an idyllic start to the year.
Morikawa started the back nine with six straight birdies, his longest streak of birdies on the PGA Tour. Spaun, for the first time in Kapalua, made four straight birdies on the back nine.
Ontario’s Mackenzie Hughes is tied for fifth after a first-round 66, seven under par. His compatriots Corey Conners and Adam Svensson shot 68 and 71 respectively.
Cameron Smith won last year with a minus-34 mark, a PGA Tour record, in a week with virtually no wind.
That was the case on Thursday on a firm course and played even shorter due to severe inclines that can cause shots to roll far longer on the ground than they fly through the air.