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[이데일리 스타in 주영로 기자] ’60 Eagles, 1795 Birdies.’
The number of Eagles and Birdies poured out by 144 people who participated in the US Pro Golf (PGA) Tour Sony Open (total prize money of $6.6 million) was counted as 1855.
At the Sony Open held at the Waialay Country Club (par 70) in Honolulu, Hawaii, USA from the 15th (Korean time), Kevin Na (USA), who hit 21 under par 259 in total of four rounds, ended with a winning trophy.
The 21-under par 259 is the fifth minimum hit ever recorded at the Sony Open.
The record for the Sony Open’s all-time minimum hits before 2012 (based on 72 holes in four rounds) was 260 hits by John Houston in 1998 and Brad Paxson in 2001. However, after Russell Henry broke the first 260 strokes wall with 256 strokes at 24 under par in 2013, the winners of 250 batting units are coming out every two years.
In 2015, Jimmy Walker won the championship with 23 under par 257, and in the 2017 competition, Justin Thomas broke the record for the all-time minimum hit with a whopping 27 under par 253.
Matt Kucha hit 22-under par 258 in 2019, becoming the fourth 250 batting winner, and this year Kevin Naga became the fifth protagonist with 21 under par 259.
The characteristic of golf courses in Hawaii is that the degree of difficulty increases according to weather changes such as wind. When the wind blows strongly or it rains, it is not easy to reduce the number of strokes by neutralizing the players’ performance. However, in this competition, when the relatively calm weather continues, the birdies and eagles pour out, except that a rather strong wind blew on the first day of the competition.
In the first round alone, there were 14 Eagles and 581 Birdies. The average at bat was 68.319. In the second round, 21 eagles and 565 birdies poured out, and the cutoff was decided at 4 under par.
In the third round after the cutoff was decided, the average at bats fell to 66.658 (10 Eagles and 347 Birdies). In the final 4th round, 15 Eagles and 302 birdies (67.466 average at bats) were poured out, and a fierce competition was held until the last minute.
Because it was easy to make grades, the rankings fell by reducing two strokes a day.
Russell Henry reduced two strokes in the match on the last day, but retreated 11 steps from a tie of fourth to a tie of 11 the previous day. Nick Taylor also reduced three strokes in the fourth round, but the ranking fell two places from 9th to 11th.
Of the 73 players who entered the finals, none of the players who ended the game due to overpar did not appear. Only Jerry Kelly, the last player, scored an even par, and all 72 had an under par.