By now every golf fan must know that Justin Thomas broke the record for the lowest 72-hole score in PGA Tour history with his total of 253. But here’s a more esoteric record set by Thomas: In winning the two Hawaii events (Tournament of Champions and Sony Open) over the past two weeks, he was a cumulative 49 under par. That’s the lowest cumulative score to par on the Hawaii swing in Tour history.
Some other facts about Thomas’ early-zeason play, courtesy of the Golf Channel Editorial Research Dept.:
• The Sony was Thomas’ fourth career PGA Tour win and his third in five starts this season (including one unofficial event). He is only the third player since 1970 with three wins in his first five starts of a season, joining Tiger Woods, who did it three times, and Johnny Miller, who did it twice.
• Thomas is just the second player (Ernie Els, 2003) to win at Kapalua and Waialae in consecutive weeks.
• Thomas, 23, joins Woods and Rory McIlroy as the only players in the last 30 years to win consecutive weeks on Tour at age 23 or younger.
• Miller was notoriously hot out of the starting blocks in his career. So it shouldn’t be surprising that Thomas joins Miller (1975) as the only two players since 1960 with three wins of three strokes or more in their first five starts.
• Thomas is projected to move to a career-high eighth in the world ranking.
• With his three wins, Thomas has already matched the Tour’s highest win total last season. Dustin Johnson and Jason Day led the Tour with three wins apiece.
• Thomas joins Woods, Spieth, McIlroy and Phil Mickelson as players in the last 30 years with four PGA Tour wins before age 24.
• Thomas’ scoring average over his last eight rounds is 65.4.