HONOLULU — Challenged only by the record book, Justin Thomas won the Sony Open on Sunday with the lowest 72-hole score in PGA TOUR history.

Thomas capped off his wonderful week at Waialae that began with a 59 with his second straight victory. He two-putted birdie from 60 feet on the par-5 18th and closed with a 5-under 65 to set the record at 253.

Tommy Armour III shot 254 at the 2003 Texas Open.

“It’s been an unbelievable week. Unforgettable,” Thomas said before going to sign his historic card.

Make that two weeks.

The 23-year-old from Kentucky won the SBS Tournament of Champions at Kapalua last week by three shots, then destroyed the full field at the Sony Open to win by seven shots. Thomas is the first player since Tiger Woods in 2009 (Buick Open and Bridgestone Invitational) to win back-to-back weeks by three shots or more.

“I felt like I was trying to win a tournament for second place,” Jordan Spieth said, summing up the helpless feeling of everyone.

That honor went to Justin Rose, who closed with a 64 to finish alone in second. Spieth shot a 63 to finish alone in third.

The first full-field event of the year on the PGA TOUR was a one-man show.

Thomas began the final round with a seven-shot lead and no one got closer than five shots all day. His only nervous moment was an 8-foot par putt on the sixth hole when he was five shots ahead. He made that, and the rest of the day was a Pacific breeze.

Thomas joined Ernie Els in 2003 as the only players to sweep Hawaii, and this performance might have been even better. Thomas was 49-under par for his two weeks, compared with Els at 47 under.

Thomas joined Johnny Miller (1974 and 1975) and Tiger Woods (2003, 2008, 2013) as the only players since 1970 to win three of the their first five starts in a PGA TOUR season. It started last fall with the CIMB Classic in Malaysia.

He moved to No. 8 in the world.

“He’s got full control of his game, full confidence, and he’s executing under pressure,” Spieth said. “It’s a lot of fun to see. Certainly stuff that myself and a lot of our peers have seen going back almost 10 years now. He’s certainly showing the world what he’s capable of.”

No one ever lost a seven-shot lead in the final round of a PGA TOUR event, a fact that never entered the conversation on a balmy afternoon at Waialae.

Thomas, thinking more about the trophy and another record when he started the final round, took no chances early on. He was 1 over through seven holes, making a soft bogey with a three-putt from 45 feet on No. 4 and a tough par save on No. 6, and still no one got closer than five shots.

But when he poured in a 20-foot birdie putt on the eighth, Thomas shifted into another gear. That was the start of four birdies in five holes — the exception was a birdie putt he missed from just inside 10 feet — and he stretched his lead to as many as nine shots.

Waialae was vulnerable all week with not much wind, fast fairways and greens that were softer than usual. Thomas produced the eighth sub-60 round in PGA TOUR history on Thursday. Kevin Kisner had a shot at 59 on Saturday until missing a 9-foot eagle putt on his final hole. And on Sunday, Chez Reavie made a hole-in-one with a 6-iron on the 17th hole that gave him a shot at a sub-60 round. Only a bogey on the sixth hole (he start on No. 10) stopping him, and he had to settle for a 61. That matched the third-best score of the week.

Even in easier conditions, no one played like Thomas.

He felt the nerves early, perhaps knowing that he could only lose with such a big lead. But when he made the turn with a six-shot lead, it was a chase for the record, and there was no stopping him. He hit a lob wedge over a bunker to 3 feet for birdie on the 14th, made a 12-foot par save on the 15th and picked up the last birdie he needed on the par-5 18th by easily reaching the middle of the green.

Justin Thomas shot the eighth round of sub-60 in PGA Tour history on Thursday, shooting 11-under 59 in the first round of the Sony Open in Hawaii.

For anyone who thought last week’s winner of the SBS Tournament of Champions was due for a post-victory letdown, they were wrong.

Thomas came to his final hole of the first round of the Sony Open in Hawaii at 9 under on the day. With a birdie on the second of the two par 5s he’d see on the round, he could top the course record he already had a share of from two years ago. After finding the fairway bunker with his tee shot, Thomas smashed his 207-yard second shot to 15 feet from the hole for an eagle that would give him a 59.

“I was so bummed when that tee shot went in the bunker,” he said. “I thought it was going to be good. I got up there and had a perfect lie, and I’m like, you know what am I going to do, lay up? And if it comes off, great, and if not, whatever.”

Then, Thomas, who already has two PGA Tour wins on this young season, finished the job to make the 3 that sent the crowd — and playing partner Jordan Spieth — into a frenzy.

“I wasn’t thinking a lot. I was just really more focused on trying to make the putt,” Thomas said afterward. “Obviously I knew what it meant if I made it, and that was the first time I had a putt at 359. I was like, well, who knows when this is going to happen again, I may as well try and knock it in. I hit a great putt.”

Even had he needed two putts for a closing birdie, Thomas still would’ve taken sole possession of the Waialae Country Club course record, of which he’s had a share with a 61 in this event in 2015.

The 23-year-old Alabama product finished the morning session five clear of five players with the next-best score of 64. For his part, Spieth shot 65.

Jim Furyk still holds the PGA Tour record for lowest single round with the 12-under 58 he shot in the final round of the 2016 Travelers Championship in Connecticut. The first sub-60 round in PGA Tour history was shot 40 years ago when Al Geiberger first shot 59 at the Danny Thomas Memphis Classic.

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Jordan Spieth wants to flash the pearly whites a little more in 2017, and, aside from perhaps getting revenge at Augusta National, enjoy his professional life a little more.

“Honestly, I want to have a lot more fun,” Spieth said Tuesday at the Sony Open in Hawaii, in Honolulu. “I want to smile more on the golf course. I want to just feel like I’m really enjoying the process of playing and living out my dream.”

Spieth said he wants more in 2017 than the two PGA Tour and three total worldwide wins last year, but he also said he needs to acknowledge that it’s not going to come as easy as it did in 2015, something he admitted he failed to do at times post-Masters.

“I think there were certainly times where my fuse was a little too short,” he said. “I mean, people go through those kind of stretches. I don’t know, just here and there, complained a bit where it was unnecessary. Just when I’m talking to [caddie] Michael [Greller] and stuff. It doesn’t do any good.”

A slightly more Zen approach for Spieth doesn’t imply that he would be alright posting rounds in the 80s, or that he’ll sudden become Pedro Cerrano through most of “Major League 2.” That’s not the case. Rather, Spieth just wants to know when to start the fire and have a better handle on how quickly to turn up the heat.

“It doesn’t mean not be angry at bad rounds or bad holes, because that’s natural and that’s how you bounce back. If you were okay with bogeys, then it would be harder to go on a birdie string right after,” he said. “But it just means not taking it to that extra level and just, you know, recognizing what happened and then fix it.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

Fabian Gomez was last year’s big winner at the Sony Open. Who will close out the PGA Tour’s Hawaiian swing with a victory this time around?

With the Tournament of Champions in the rearview mirror, the PGA Tour now moves on to the second half of its annual swing through the Aloha State: the Sony Open in Hawaii. Held yearly at Wailele Country Club, the list of past champions includes such notable names as Lee Trevino, Ben Crenshaw, Ernie Els and Zach Johnson.

Hawaii is always a popular destination for PGA Tour players and their families this time of year, but thanks to the stringent qualifying criteria for last week’s event, the Sony will be the only local event for many of them. For golf fanatics, this is an exciting opportunity to see some favorite players back in action — Kapalua is great in its own ways, but showing us a wide variety of different players and swings isn’t one of them.

With a standard 140 players in the field, there’s no telling how this tournament will unfold. Without further ado, let’s get to this week’s projections. Here are some of the best bets for success at the Sony Open in Hawaii.

1. Jordan Spieth

No. 5, four top 10s in last five starts

His title defense at the SBS Tournament of Champions didn’t exactly get off to a sterling start, but Spieth managed to finish strong, circling eight birdies on Sunday en route to a tie for third. That’s exactly the kind of momentum he needs as he heads to the first full-field event of the year. While his lone previous appearance at the Sony Open resulted in a missed cut, he’s had three years since then to mature as a golfer. With four top 10s in his last five worldwide starts, including a pair of podium finishes, it wouldn’t be at all surprising to see him pick up the ninth win of his PGA Tour career this week.

2. Hideki Matsuyama

No. 6, six consecutive top two finishes

This 24-year-old has been scary good over the past few months. Since the conclusion of last fall’s Tour Championship, Matsuyama has made six starts and found the top two in every one of them, most notably taking home the hardware at the WGC-HSBC Champions in October and finishing second at the SBS Tournament of Champions last week. Much like Spieth, his history at Wailele isn’t particularly inspiring, but his ridiculously good form more than makes up for it. A better track record would be nice, but you’d be foolish to bet against Matsuyama this week — he’s threatening to go on a historic run.

3. Justin Thomas

No. 12, five top 10s in last six starts

It took a whole 16 events for the PGA Tour to see its first repeat winner in the 2015-16 season, but thanks to his outstanding play at Kapalua last week, Thomas was able to halve that number for this year. That victory, along with a few strong finishes from last fall, makes him one of the hottest players in this week’s field. He’s also got the statistical profile to back up those results, ranking seventh on the PGA Tour in total strokes gained and third in birdie average. The only thing standing between him and another great week is a potential winner’s hangover, but judging from recent history, that shouldn’t be much of a problem.

4. Scott Piercy

No. 36, three top 10s in last five starts

There’s a massive gap between Thomas and Piercy in terms of fantasy projection, but make no mistake — this Las Vegas resident has a great chance to contend this week. He seems to always rise to the occasion at Wailele, racking up five top 25s, including a solo second in 2015, in eight career starts. That kind of track record should pair nicely with his relatively recent fall successes, which include a tie for third at the Safeway Open, a tie for fourth at the OHL Classic and a tie for 10th at the CIMB Classic. There’s no reason he can’t keep it going at a track that’s been so kind to him in the past.

5. Paul Casey

No. 15, five top 15 finishes in last six starts

While he’s taken plenty of rest weeks since last September’s Tour Championship, Casey’s good end-of-year form means that he’s worthy of our attention this week. The Englishman made three starts and found the top 25 in every one of them, peaking with a tie for third at the Safeway Open. While he’s sorely lacking in Sony Open experience, he did tie for 30th two years ago. His recent play, combined with his greater exposure to the course, should help him ascend to new heights at Wailele. His always impressive tee-to-green game won’t hurt either.

No. 84, three consecutive top 10 finishes

This once fiery Arizona State product has certainly cooled down his temper in recent years, but he’s only heating up on the course. His tie for third at last week’s Tournament of Champions was his third consecutive top 10 finish, coming on the heels of a tie for seventh at the Shriners Hospitals for Children Open and a win at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. He’s risen nearly 250 spots in the world ranking since the beginning of that run, so he should be brimming with confidence. He’s also the owner of a standout track record at Wailele Country Club: 13-for-15 with five top 10s, including two in the last four years.

7. Charles Howell III

No. 104, three consecutive top 15 finishes

This Georgia native always seems to start off his seasons on the right foot, and this one has been no exception — through his first five events, Howell has posted a trio of top 15s, including a tie for seventh at the OHL Classic and a tie for 13th at the RSM Classic. What’s more, the Sony Open has historically been an important element of his strong starts. With four top 15s, including a pair of podium finishes, in the past five years, he should be more comfortable with the course than just about anyone. He’s just so consistent in the month of January — there’s no reason to start doubting him now.

8. Russell Henley

No. 132, three consecutive top 25 finishes

Henley will be hard-pressed to reproduce the trio of 63s that lifted him to a three-stroke victory at the 2013 Sony Open, but he’s shown enough signs to inspire plenty of optimism nevertheless. The Georgia product will ride a wave of three straight top 25s into this week, having ended the year with a solid top 10 at the RSM Classic at Sea Island. Since his victory four years ago, Henley’s record at Wailele has been a sort of mixed bag, but he did tie for 17th in 2015. If he can continue to play as solidly as he has been, then expect to see his name on the first page of the leaderboard.

9. Jimmy Walker

No. 20, two time champion at the Sony Open

Walker hasn’t been at his best since his win at the PGA Championship last August, but as a two-time winner at the Sony Open, he’s earned the benefit of the doubt. He’s also missed out on the top 30 at Wailele just once in the last six years, posting a solo fourth in 2011 and a tie for 13th last year. While a cold putter led to some weekend woes at Kapalua, there was plenty to like about his ball striking. Given his overall performance year in and year out, the gut feeling here is that he impresses this week.

10. Gary Woodland

No. 50, two career top 15 finishes at Wailele

A long bomber with some positive history at the Sony Open, Woodland has everything he needs to make a strong showing this week. He finished his fall season in fine fashion, notching a solo second at the OHL Classic at Mayakoba. Perhaps more importantly, he’s compiled a good record at Wailele over the years — he’s notched a pair of top 15s, including a tie for third two years ago. Last season, the Kansas native ranked 23rd on the PGA Tour in greens in regulation and a surprising 16th in total strokes gained, so it wouldn’t be surprising to see some low scores from him this week.

Sam Belden January 10, 2017