By Tony Webeck

The new era of the PGA TOUR has helped deliver Adam Scott a rare money milestone at the Sentry Tournament of Champions in Hawaii. In the field by virtue of qualifying for the 2022 season Tour Championship, Scott began his 2023 campaign at the Plantation Course at Kapalua for the eighth time in his career. A closing round of four-under 69 saw the Queenslander total 13-under for the four rounds and outright 29th in the 39-man field. As Jon Rahm used a 10-under 63 to turn a seven-shot deficit into a $US2.7 million three-stroke win, Scott’s $210,000 pay day was enough to move him past $US60 million in career earnings on the PGA TOUR. As reported by Golf Digest’s Ryan Herrington, Scott arrived at Kapalua with $US59,873,599 in career earnings in 369 starts and is now just the seventh player in TOUR history to reach the milestone, Jason Day the next best Aussie with $50,791,670. The other six to have surpassed $US60m in career earnings are Tiger Woods ($120,895,206), Phil Mickelson ($94,955,060), Dustin Johnson ($74,897,059), Jim Furyk ($71,507,269), Vijay Singh ($71,236,216) and Rory McIlroy ($68,064,549). On top of the boost to his bank balance Scott also showed signs that he will pick up the good form that he displayed toward the end of 2022. The 42-year-old had 19 birdies and an eagle across the 72 holes, hitting 77.78 per cent of greens in regulation and signing off with three birdies in his final five holes ahead of next week’s Sony Open at Waialae Country Club. As Scott continues to set records in his glittering career, West Australian Hayden Hopewell took another important step in establishing his presence within professional golf. Hopewell finished top of Section C in Thailand to guarantee his place at the Final Stage of Asian Tour Qualifying School, one of five Australians to advance. Looking to reignite his career in Asia, Gold Coast’s Kade McBride finished in a tie for sixth with Victorian Deyen Lawson one further back in a share of ninth. Hopewell’s fellow rookie pro Connor McKinney finished tied for 14th along with Kiwi Kevin Chun while 2021 Gippsland Super 6 champion Jack Thompson had to win a playoff to earn the 23rd and final spot. Results PGA TOUR

Sentry Tournament of Champions Plantation Course at Kapalua, Maui, Hawaii 1 Jon Rahm 64-71-67-63—265 $US2.7m 29 Adam Scott 70-68-72-69—279 $210,000 Asian Tour

Qualifying School (Section C), Blue Canyon Country Club (Lakes Cse) T1 Hayden Hopewell 69-68-69-69—275 T6 Kade McBride 69-69-68-72—278 T9 Deyen Lawson 68-71-71-69—279 T14 Connor McKinney 71-70-75-66—282 T14 Kevin Chun (NZ) 74-71-72-65—282 23 Jack Thompson 73-73-69-69—284 Did not qualify for Final Stage T34 Daniel Fox 74-69-72-72—287 T34 Sungjin Yeo (NZ) 74-69-73-71—287 T41 Jordan Garner 73-76-68-71—288 T46 Jake McLeod 75-68-73-73—289 T46 Elvis Smylie 69-72-75-73—289 T46 Jack Munro 73-76-68-72—289 T49 Shane Feldman (a) 72-73-74-71—290 T52 Mitchell Varley (a) 73-69-75-74—291 T76 Jerry Song (NZ) 75-77-70—222 T84 Nabil Abdul 73-73-78—224