Dominant Spieth wins Tournament of Champions

Jordan Spieth is 21/20 to win a Major in 2016 after starting the year in style by cruising to a seventh PGA Tour title.

On a breezy day at the Kapalua Resort on the island of Maui, the imperious Spieth, 22, signed off with a six-under 67 to outclass the elite, winners-only field of 32 as he mixed seven birdies with a lone bogey to post a 30-under total of 262.

Spieth won last weekend’s event by eight strokes at 30-under-one stroke shy of Ernie Els’ record set in 2003 at the same course and just the second time any golfer has eclipsed 30-under. He also joined Tiger Woods as the only players since 1970 to win seven times on the PGA Tour by 22. “Michael [Greller, Spieth’s caddie] said on the 18th fairway, ‘Man, what a way to make a statement.’ I thought that was cool”. It was like previous year never ended, and that’s what Spieth wanted.

Brooks Koepka, who was Spieth’s closest pursuer and playing partner on Sunday, finished tied for third at 21 under par along with Brandt Snedeker. “I’ve got to keep working hard”.

He now has closed out his last five wins with at least a share of the lead, and this was the third time in the last 13 months that he led by four shots or more. Woods won his seventh PGA Tour event in his 38th start, and he had 18 wins in his first 77 tournaments.

“Nowhere near”, Spieth said about his place against Woods. With four par fives and a couple of short par fours, getting up-and-down for birdies form just off the large greens is vital and few (if anyone) have better scrambling skills than Spieth and Reed.

“I just think (the Woods comparisons are) premature, but I’ll say that probably my entire career”, said Spieth on Sunday. It’s awfully early. We’re excited about where we’re at to start our career.

“What Tiger has done, I can’t imagine ever being done again, but it’s very nice to be in that company”. He played them in 1 under. “I can sit here and say that my putting certainly is ready for the Masters to be next week”. On the first hole, Spieth’s approach somehow settled inches away on the top of a steep bunker about 50 yards from the hole. “I need to get a lot more sharp”.

OK, so we made that last one up, but you get the point. For the week, he played the four par 5s on the course in 16-under par. “I knew I needed to come out and make some birdies to apply some pressure, but then all of the sudden I saw the leaderboard and it was back to five”.

The next questions is how good he can get.

Spieth will take off two weeks before heading over to the United Arab Emirates to compete in the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship, the true start to the 2016 European Tour schedule, before resuming his PGA Tour schedule at Pebble Beach and Riviera.

Much like Woods in 2000, and even David Duval in 1999, he sent an early message by winning Kapalua that he wasn’t interested in this wave to end.