Jon Rahm produces miracle comeback to win Tournament of Champions in Hawaii as Collin Morikawa stunned

ByRob Hemingway

Updated 09/01/2023 at 11:10 GMT

Jon Rahm bogeyed the first in the final round of the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii to leave himself a mammoth seven shots behind leader Collin Morikawa. How on earth, then, 17 holes later, did he managed to triumph by two? "I needed to play good and he needed to make a couple of mistakes," Rahm said, with some understatement. For Morikawa, it was the nightmare end. "It sucks," he said.

Jon Rahm produced an astonishing comeback to win the Tournament of Champions in Hawaii as Collin Morikawa let slip a six-shot overnight lead.

Rahm was even further back from the American leader - seven shots - after the first hole of the final round at the Kapalua Plantation Course, having begun with a bogey.

But he didn't stop believing, and a remarkable back nine - which he began still six shots behind - saw him overhaul a stumbling Morikawa.

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"I needed to play good and he needed to make a couple of mistakes," said Rahm afterwards.

"If you told me at the beginning of the round, after that bogey, I was going to do what I did, I don't know if I would have believed you."

Morikawa was, understandably, experiencing altogether different emotions.

"Sadness. I don't know. It sucks," he said.

"You work so hard and you give yourself these opportunities and just bad timing on bad shots and it kind of added up really quickly.

"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."

Rahm's comeback began in earnest after his first-hole slip-up, with five birdies in his next eight holes to reach the turn at 21 under.

Jon Rahm of Spain bites the trophy on the 18th green after the final round of the Sentry Tournament of Champions on The Plantation Course at Kapalua on January 8, 2023 in Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii.

Image credit: Getty Images

But that was still six behind Morikawa, who had moved to 27 under after nine with three birdies of his own.

However, scoreboard pressure on the inward nine began to tell on Morikawa, as Rahm birdied 12, 13 and 14 before an eagle on 15 saw him move to within one of the lead, as his American rival faltered.

Rahm pressed on from there, and despite Morikawa halting his awful closing holes with a birdie, it was to no avail, as the Spaniard sealed the biggest comeback win in the history of the event.

It also continued Rahm's excellent recent form which has seen him triumph in three of his last six starts.

FINAL LEADERBOARD

• 1. J Rahm (Spa), -27
• 2. C Morikawa (US), -25
• T3. M Homa (US), - 23
• T3. T Hoge (US), - 23
• T5. JJ Spaun (US), -22
• T5. J-H Kim (Kor), -22
• T7. K-H Lee (Kor), -21
• T7. T Finau (US), -21
• T7. S Scheffler (US), - 21
• T7. M Fitzpatrick (Eng), -21

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