Jordan Spieth rolls to victory in Hawaii

“Just have to stay at it and keep grinding and turn these second, third, fourth, fifth place finishes into Ws”, he said.

Reed, who led the way after the first round, had five birdies and a bogey to close out proceedings.

Highly-rated in the unpaid ranks, Stone, who was beaten by Fifer Brian Soutar in the final of the South African Amateur Championship back in 2012, went to the same University of Texas as Spieth and, like him, he also opted to come out of the scholarship after just one year to pursue his professional ambitions. Spieth won his seventh title in his 77th start as a pro.

Jordan Spieth’s latest triumph has only heightened the sense of comparison with Tiger Woods. And only David Duval has won on this course by a larger margin, claiming the first Tournament of Champions at Kapalua in 1999 by nine shots.

After a simple chip to 2 feet for birdie on the short par-4 14th, he went over the back of the green on the par-5 15th and faced a tough chip to a back pin. I tried my best though! “I got it to within three”. “I wouldn’t have felt like we had an edge in ’14”.

Only one other player, defending champion Patrick Reed, was within eight shots of Spieth. As for myself? Well, I tend to swiftly plummet off the wagon with the kind of shuddering dunt that would’ve had Icarus peering on and wincing the words, ‘crikey, that looked a sair yin’.

I shall adopt the same strategies again at both events next year – taking it easy before the off, but getting stuck in in-running. Snedeker is on the outside looking in for the Ryder Cup, so he will need a few more tournaments like this one.

If we return to Glendower, we may not know what to expect.

He has won the last four times he’s had the 54-hole lead, all of them previous year. The greens ran fast in spite of how much rain fell and this tree-lined venue is a great test. On the first hole, Spieth’s approach somehow settled inches away on the top of a steep bunker about 50 yards from the hole. Spieth, playing smart with a big lead on the back nine, finished at 30-under 262. Many expected Spieth to have a disappointing season, including someone who was in Spieth’s shoes just past year – Rory McIlroy.

“Tiger could physically take over a golf course with his driver better than Jordan can”, Harmon said.

“We set goals as a team that we want to accomplish each year win-wise, for amount of wins”, said Spieth. Asked how he felt after matching 14-time major victor Woods with a seventh PGA Tour victory before the age of 23, Spieth replied: “I don’t think there’s any reason to compare”. Well, sure, he played the best golf and he was the strongest mentally.

Jordan Spieth will head to the Abu Dhabi HSBC Golf Championship in fine form after blitzing the field to win the Tournament of Champions.