Jon Rahm will go down as the answer to a fairly subtle golf trivia question: Who was the winner of the PGA Tour’s first-ever “designated” event?
The 28-year-old Spaniard claimed the title at the Sentry Tournament of Champions on Sunday, posting a 10-under 63 to win for a 27-under 265 total to grab his eighth career victory on the PGA Tour—a year after finishing second in this event.
And yet, the fact that this is so is astonishing. With six holes to play on Sunday, you could have bet Rahm’s entire $2.7 million first-place prize money payout that the winner in Hawaii was going to be someone else. Collin Morikawa started the final round with a six-shot lead at Kapalua Resort’s Plantation Course, extended it to seven shots at one point during the final round and was ahead of Rahm by four shots with just five holes remaining.
And then, suddenly and shockingly, Morikawa made three consecutive bogeys—after playing his first 67 holes of the week bogey-free—and saw the lead incredibly disappear. Morikawa would post a final-round 72, becoming just the eighth player in tour history to fail to close out a six-shot 54-hole lead.
From Golf Digest Architecture Editor emeritus Ron Whitten: Most golf fans are familiar with Kapalua Golf Club’s Plantation Course, home of the PGA Tour's opening event each year. Located on the north shore of the Hawaiian island of Maui, the Plantation was built from open, windswept pineapple fields on the pronounced slope of a volcano and is irrigated by sprinklers pressured solely by gravity. As the first design collaboration by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, it unveiled their joint admiration for old-style courses. The blind drive on the fourth, the cut-the-corner drives on the fifth and sixth are all based on tee shots found at National Golf Links. So, too, are its punchbowl green and strings of diagonal bunkers. It's also a massive course, built on a huge scale, Coore says, to accommodate the wind and the slope and the fact that it gets mostly resort play.
Indeed, Rahm was actually nine shots back of Morikawa after the eventual winner made a bogey on first hole on Sunday, only to track him down for the unlikely win.
Back to the trivia question: The Sentry TOC was the first of the 13 events the tour has given an “elevated” status in 2023 in response to the upstart LIV Golf Series offering guaranteed contracts and exorbitant purses. The tour is promoting these tournaments as an opportunity for its best players to compete against each other more often—and rewarding them for doing so by paying significant prize money payouts. The overall purse in Hawaii was $15 million—with the remaining elevated events handing out between $20 million and $25 million each.
Just how can you put the big boost in prize money in perspective? Let’s compare the difference in payouts from just a year ago until now. The 2022 Sentry TOC had a $8.2-million purse with Cam Smith earning $1.476 million for his victory (an Rahm pulling in $810,000). And to make $200,000—which is how much last place paid on Sunday, you had to have a top-nine finish in 2022.
It's interesting to note, too, that 10 years ago, the overall purse for this event was a mere $5.7 million.
Here's the listing again for the prize money payout for 2023. Come back shortly after the tournament ends on Sunday, and we'll update this list with individual names and specific prize money payouts.
Win: Jon Rahm, 265/-27, $2,700,000
2: Collin Morikawa, 267/-25, $1,500,000
T-3: Tom Hoge, 269/-23, $840,000
T-3: Max Homa, 269/-23, $840,000
T5: Tom Kim, 270/-22, $555,000
T5: J.J. Spaun, 270/-22, $555,000
T-7: Tony Finau, 271/-21, $368,750
T-7: Matt Fitzpatrick, 271/-21, $368,750
T-7: K.H. Lee, 271/-21, $368,750
T-7: Scottie Scheffler, 271/-21, $368,750
T-11: Luke List, 272/-20, $292,500
T-11: Will Zalatoris, 272/-20, $292,500
T-13: Sungjae Im, 273/-19, $265,000
T-13: Jordan Spieth, 273/-19, $265,000
T-13: Cameron Young, 273/-19, $265,000
T-16: Patrick Cantlay, 274/-18, $241,000
T-16: Brian Harman, 274/-18, $241,000
T-18: Corey Conners, 275/-17, $229,000
T-18: Viktor Hovland, 275/-17, $229,000
T-18: Aaron Wise, 275/-17, $229,000
T-21: Mackenzie Hughes, 276/-16, $220,000
T-21: Hideki Matsuyama, 276/-16, $220,000
T-21: J.T. Poston, 276/-16, $220,000
T-21: Sepp Straka, 276/-16, $220,000
T-25: Seamus Power, 277/-15, $213,333.34
T-25: Scott Stallings, 277/-15, $213,333.33
T-25: Justin Thomas, 277/-15, $213,333.33
28: Trey Mullinax, 278/-14, $211,000
29: Adam Scott, 279/-13, $210,000
T-30: Russell Henley, 280/-12, $208,500
T-30: Billy Horschel, 280/-12, $208,500
32: Sam Burns, 281/-11, $207,000
33: Sahith Theegala, 282/-10, $206,000
34: Keegan Bradley, 283/-9, $205,000
T-35: Ryan Brehm, 285/-7, $203,500
T-35: Chez Reavie, 285/-7, $203,500
37: Adam Svensson, 287/-5, $202,000
38: Chad Ramey, 290/-2, $201,000
WD: Xander Schauffele
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