It took Patton Kizzire a total of 63 PGA Tour starts to get his first victory. It took him just three to get his second. Kizzire defeated James Hahn with a par on the sixth playoff hole on Sunday at the Sony Open in Hawaii after both posted a 17-under 263 in regulation.
Kizzire had a fairly innocuous day throughout. He used 15 pars in his first 18 holes to get into the playoff (that included an eagle, a birdie and a bogey, too) and then played the six playoff holes in 2 under. It was ho-hum for the most part, but it was enough to secure his second victory of the PGA Tour season.
"It wasn't necessarily pretty, but it was nice to come out on top," Kizzire told Todd Lewis of Golf Channel. "James had a great round today. That was kind of a marathon playoff. I was hoping I could make an eagle on the first hole and end it quickly, but I'll take it any way I can get it."
The two-time champ was brilliant with his irons and putter, and he actually won the event with the way he rebounded on Saturday afternoon. After making a double bogey on the first hole in the third round, Kizzire answered with eight birdies in the last 13 holes and shot a 64. He would only make one other bogey over the next 41 holes (including the playoff).
Kizzire, in his early 30s, is a late-blooming potential star and he has the firepower to prove it. At 6-foot-5, he has that easiness that all big men with sweet swings who play this game possess. And this week he had a short game to complement it. Kizzire finished third in the field in strokes gained putting and hit some monsters coming home, including a par save at the 71st hole from five feet.
This is a terrific tournament to add to anyone's resume, and now Kizzire is starting to stack them up. Following his win at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba, Kizzire has already had a career year. And you get the feeling he's only now finding a confidence that means his best golf is yet to come. Grade: A+
Here are the rest of our grades for the Sony Open.
Jordan Spieth (T18): Spieth shot a pair of 66s on the weekend after butchering the first day with a quadruple bogey. It's almost impossible to come back from a quad on any day and win a tournament, but Spieth made a good run at finishing in the top 10 (he fell two shots short). He only made three bogeys following the quad, though, and hit the ball quite well. The putting lacked (he finished outside the top 50 in strokes gained), but it will come around.
"I got a lot of work to do in the putting game," Spieth said. "I think I was somewhere close to about 100th this week in strokes gained [he was 57th]. I was like 95th going into today and made a couple outside ten feet, but then I also missed a number of them. So I've got a lot of work to do with the putter, it's as simple as that. Everything else is plenty ready to win."
It's fair to grade Spieth (and guys like Dustin Johnson and Rory McIlroy) on a curve. When Spieth goes to the Sony Open, the baseline is that he's going to finish in the top 10. Compare that to, say, somebody like Brian Stuard whose baseline is to make the cut. Because of that Spieth gets a lower grade than most would for a top 20 finish. Grade: B-
Justin Thomas (T14): Thomas had a much better Sony Open than he did Tournament of Champions. His actually didn't gain as many strokes off the tee as he usually does and didn't hole the putts he holes last year when he won in record-setting fashion. Still, he said he felt like he hit it well enough to contend and potentially win the tournament this week in Honolulu.
"I easily, easily could have won this golf tournament by a pretty good amount of strokes," Thomas said on Golf Channel. "So that part's upsetting. I played well this week. I'm pretty disappointed with where I'm going to end up finishing. I played way better than this."
Also, Thomas gets bonus points for his response to the ballistic missile threat. Grade: B+
James Hahn (2nd): I have to give Hahn props for his effort over 24 holes on Sunday. He was 8 under in regulation and 1 under in the playoff, which means he somehow played 24 holes in 9 under on Sunday and lost. His issue? Well, he started the day seven strokes off the pace. The 62 in regulation (which included seven birdies in eight holes) was a heroic showing, even if he let it slip in extra time. Grade: A