Kapalua, Hawaii – No one has ever finished below par in PGA Tour history than Cameron Smith, and he could never appreciate it until his final flyby throw on Sunday at the Sentry of Champions.

Not with Jon Ram, the #1 player in the world, on his heels every step of the way. Not with Matt Jones making a pair of eagles and hitting a 50-foot-tall bird in the distance of five holes to stay in the game at Kapalua.

In the best scoring conditions Kapalua has seen in the 24 times winners only have hosted the start of the new year, Smith has been grueling all day, right down to a 3-foot jumper position the Australian made on the 18-for-8 hole. Under 65 and a one-shot victory over the Ram.

“Matt, it was intense,” Smith said. “It was so crazy. I felt like I needed to make a little birdie to keep up with the genre or stay ahead.”

Smith finished at 34-under 258, and some context is in order.

Only three players in the history of the tours have finished aged 30 or under. Ernie Els set the record of 31 under Kapalua in 2003 and won with eight shots. Jordan Spieth hit 30 under in 2016, also winning eight. Dustin Johnson fired 30 under Liberty National in 2020 and won 11.

Smith won one.

“An unrealistic tour,” Smith said. “Something I will never forget.”

It was a testament to four days of warm sunshine and not even enough wind to move a palm frond, with smooth lanes of torrential rain before the elite field reached Maui’s western edge, and green that had never been more pure.

Ram never fired worse than a 66, and was one of three players to set a Plantation track record of 61 in the third round. He made 32 birdies for the week, tying the PGA Tour record for a 72-hole event shared by Paul Gow at the BC Open and Mark Calcavecchia at the Phoenix Open; Gom and Calcavecchia performed in 2001.

“I have every reason to smile,” Ram said of his result. “It’s a bittersweet moment.”

Ram, who is playing for the first time since October 15, did everything he could, and Smith never gave him a chance. They started the last round and tied for the lead. Smith advanced by hitting a 4-foot-bird on No. 4 and hitting a 20-foot-flyer for third.

Ram closed in a single shot with a 15-foot birdie on day eleven.

They matched sparrows and parsers on the same holes the rest of the way. Rahm closed at 66 to finish at 33-under 259.

“This golf course has only one defense and that’s the wind,” Ram said. “If people are shooting between 20 and 26 degrees under the shadow of 20 mph winds, what do you expect us to do when there is no wind at all?”

Jones attempted to join the race, holed up for an eagle on the 13th, making a 4-foot eagle on the 15th and digging a 50-foot bird on the 17th. A final birdie allowed Jones to score a third of 61 – Justin Thomas also tied the record on Saturday – to finish third.

Jones was at 32 under 260, one shot better than the previous record, two points short of the win.

“If you had told me I was going to shoot 32 below zero, I would have been more than happy to sit at the club and let everyone play and see what happens,” Jones said.

Smith claimed his fourth PGA Tour win—two of the team’s titles were in New Orleans—and became the sixth player to win both Hawaii stops on the PGA Tour. He won the Sony Open in Honolulu two years ago in a playoff match.

He also moved up to number 10 in the world, his highest ranking, and one of his goals for the year he scored in the first week.

Ram easily retained his No. 1 ranking and made little mistake in his comeback from the longest hiatus of his career. He had 20 feet of jumper throw to train ahead on the 17th, and it was his last good chance to catch Smith, which he narrowly missed.

On the par-5 closing hole, Smith came a short distance from the green. His shot slowed from 90 feet to a stopping point about 3 feet from the hole. This meant that Ram had no choice but to dig a 50-foot eagle canoe out of the green, erring on the high side.

The previous record for low points without a win was Bryson Deschamps, who finished 27th under the BMW Championship in Caves Valley last year and lost to Patrick Cantlay in a playoff.

Cantlay, playing for the first time since the Ryder Cup, finished with 67 points to finish at 26 below par. That was only good for fourth place this week.