Spieth off to fiery start with 8-shot Hyundai win

KAPALUA, Hawaii – The view from the top looks as spectacular as ever for Jordan Spieth.

He was standing in the 18th fairway Sunday at Kapalua, his victory in the Hyundai Tournament of Champions easily secured, when his thoughts were interrupted by a comment from caddie Michael Greller: “Way to make a statement.”

The statement was nearly as big as his eight-shot victory.

Coming off a year that Spieth knows will be tough to match – the Masters, US Open, five wins, the FedEx Cup – the 22-year-old Texan backed up his sage comment at the start of the week that 2016 wasn’t about an encore because that would mean the show was over.

It’s not.

Spieth crushed the winners-only field by closing with a six-under 67 to become only the second player in PGA Tour history to finish a 72-hole tournament at 30-under par or lower. An 8-foot birdie on the final hole put him at 30-under 262, one short of the record Ernie Els set at Kapalua in 2003.

“I thought that was cool,” Spieth said about his caddie’s comment. “It’s not what I’m going for. It’s not why I do what I do. I don’t do it to talk back to any people that believe it’s not possible or ‘He got a lucky year’ or something.”

And then he paused with a smile and added, “But I still think it’s going to be very difficult to have a year like last year.”

This one could not have gotten off to a better start.

Staked to a five-shot lead, Spieth made two straight birdies around the turn to restore his margin, and he spent the rest of the afternoon soaking up sights of the sun and surf on Maui. The view of him at No. 1 in the world only looks daunting to the guys trying to catch him.

Patrick Reed got within three shots before he stalled on the back nine and Spieth poured it on with a combination of great shots and smart shots. It was like last year never ended, and that’s what Spieth wanted.

“I felt like it was short three-week break and continue what we were doing last year,” Spieth said. “That’s the way I’ll keep on thinking about it. It worked this week. All parts were firing.”