Tournament of Champions 2023 standings: Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa tied for first place after Round 1

The first round of the 2023 Champions League is everything you want from the opening event of a calendar year: Top superstars, field-wide birdies and — of course! — Jordan Spieth rides a normal unicycle while juggling flaming torches.

The trio of leaders sitting at the top of the field, Collin Morikawa, Jon Rahm and JJ Spaun all led with a score of 9 under at Kapalua par-73. However, a large group of Tom Kim, Tom Hoge, Sungjae Im and Scottie Scheffler are following them closely. That means a lot of star power is likely to run for the next three days.

We’ll dive into their rounds below, as well as what’s to come for the rest of the week from this loaded field. With the first event of 2023 underway, let’s dive into the first round of the Tournament of Champions.

Leaders

T1. Jon Rahm, JJ Spaun, Collin Morikawa (-9): Rahm followed up his under-33 performance a year ago with a nine-under 63 on Thursday, and he now has 40 birdies and two eagles in his final 90 holes at Kapalua. After playing nine goals first in the 31st minute, he found himself in an uncomfortable position at the back table with a ghost on the 14th par-4. That bogey sent him back a bit, but he closed. with three birdies on the last four holes, including a near miss on the last hole that turned into an easy bird.

Rahm will find it extremely difficult to keep up if he hits the ball like he did on Thursday when he leads the field with nearly four strokes in the round (Matt Fitzpatrick and Viktor Hovland are second at 2.07. ). He probably won’t put the ball like that, but good luck playing against someone who is averaged 8.4 under par in his last five rounds here.

other candidates

4. Tom Kim (-8)

T5. Matt Fitzpatrick, Aaron Wise, Tom Hoge, Mackenzie Hughes, Sungjae Im, Scottie Scheffler (-7)

Scheffler is probably the most interesting person in this group. He put the ball badly — he lost almost two strokes on the green and put a putt over five feet away — but he still hit 66. That’s terrifying coming from the No. 2 in the world. . Scheffler also has something at stake here beyond victory. He needs to finish in the top 3 to reclaim the world No 1 spot from Rory McIlroy, who is not playing this week in Kapalua.

Kim exceeded expectations

Maybe I’m not surprised Kim shot 65, but it still is. I’m optimistic about him as a human and a potential star, equally I doubt that his statistical profile meets the modern burgeoning top 10 player. And yet, at every level he’s played, he keeps winning and winning. In 81 OWGR starts, he has eight wins and his PGA Tour win rate is slightly better. In the long run, I want to get him wrong because he is so much fun to write and present (see below), but I have to say I don’t necessarily see this round coming from him in Kapalua.

Photo of the day

Jordan Spieth had a very Jordan Spieth round. He missed a 2-foot shot but also made a 33-foot spin on the 15th hole for a level after some problems in the bunker on the third shot. If you’ve ever tried to do a full swing with any club from 30 feet, it’s basically impossible to hit the hole, but here we are.

Spieth also had an amazing exchange in which he asked two gentlemen at the event if they could ease the betting conversation while he placed a bet. A very ordinary start to the season for Spieth.

Scene of the day, Part II

The hole-punch eagle is great, but Kim asks the camera if they caught it.

Morikawa is fine

recently i wrote about some of the horror surrounding Collin Morikawa at the end of 2022, a year he didn’t win. This statistic from Data Golf sums up how I feel about his current position:

• Number of strokes gained for the 2020-21 season: 1.41 (3 wins)
• Number of strokes gained for the 2021-22 season: 1.41 (0 wins)

Furthermore, Morikawa’s ceiling didn’t really change. He went from third to sixth in the world in 95th percentiles. In other words, his best stuff is still among the best of other top 10 players in the world. What has changed is that he didn’t win, which could have been due to a lot of other things (luck, good returns, pitch makeup, etc). Morikawa is underrated overall in 2023 and while he won’t be playing as well as he did on Thursday for the rest of the year, I think it’s symbolic of what we can do with him for the year. now on. There is still time to buy low.

Updated odds and picks for the 2023 Champions League

• Jon Rahm: +240
• Collin Morikawa: +650
• Scottie Scheffler: 8-1
• Tom Kim: 12-1
• Sungjae Im: 14-1
• Tony Finau: 16-1
• Matt Fitzpatrick: 16-1
• Jordan Spieth: 22-1
• Viktor Hovland: 22-1
• Wise Aaron: 22-1

To no one’s surprise, I joined Spieth 22-1. He plays very well on this course, and he has been helped when many external factors occur (slope, wind, etc.) because it helps him get out of his thoughts. He didn’t even hit well on Thursday and still found a way to hit 67. In terms of the leads, Morikawa at +650 is the play for me. Rahm’s putt was fantastic, that’s not going to happen, and Morikawa is still a bit underrated as he’s gone a year without a win.