After the first round of the Champions Tournament, Cameron Smith moved to the top of the leaderboard at -8. With his card of 65, the Australian is one step ahead of his first pursuers Daniel Berger, Jon Rahm and Patrick Cantlay.

Cameron Smith leader of the Sentry Tournament of Champions - via Twitter © @ OduNews1

Cameron Smith leader of the Sentry Tournament of Champions - © via Twitter @ OduNews1

On the course of Kapalua, it is Cameron Smith who expresses himself best with a card of 65 (-8) littered with five birdies and two eagles for a bogey. The Australian takes the lead in the Sentry Tournament of Champions one step ahead.

He is closely followed by three pursuers, and sacred pursuers: Jon Rahm the world number 1, Patrick Cantlay the winner of the FedEx Cup 2021 and Daniel Berger multiple winner on the tour and player of the Ryder Cup. The three of them return a card of 66 (-7) and place themselves one stroke behind the leader.

Viktor Hovland ranks 13th at -4 despite his pre-tournament twists and turns. Indeed, the Norwegian's golf bag took a few extra days to arrive in Hawaii, and arrived with broken clubs! Obviously his clubs could be replaced by the staff of his equipment supplier and that did not prevent him from signing five birdies and an eagle in Kapalua.

The most spectacular shot of the day is signed by none other than Phil Mickelson: a driver on the fairway played in bland to attack the par 5 of 18 in two. Lefty will finally sign a birdie to end his game at -2, in 25th place.

Winner in 2016, Jordan Spieth will have a bitter taste of his endgame. In the PAR on his go, he signed four birdies on the return before committing a double bogey on the par 5 of 18 after a ball in the penalty area. He ranks 25th alongside Phil Mickelson on this Kapalua course.

Defending champion Harris English is 35th with one card in the PAR: three birdies for three bogeys.

To find the Sentry Tournament of Champions leaderboard: click here.

By Baptiste Laurensou.

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