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TSN Senior Reporter

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TSN's Bob Weeks shares five things we learned from watching the Hyundai Tournament of Champions this past weekend.

Jordan Spieth is very good

Okay, we knew this before but his eight-shot win just showed that there is no off-season rust on the 22-year-old Texan. The victory ties him with Tiger Woods for wins by players aged 22 and under with seven, although it pales in comparison to the leader in this category - Horton Smith, who won 14 times. It was also the fifth consecutive time that Spieth has won a tournament after holding the 54-hole lead. And if you want to know the key to his victory, well it should be obvious by now - his putter. Spieth was first in total putts with just 111 over four rounds and also led the Stroked Gained: Putting category.

Fashion Sense

When Rickie Fowler wore his now-famous orange outfit on Sundays of PGA Tour rounds, a whole generation of kids began copying the Puma-clad kid. You couldn’t go to a tournament anywhere - even if Fowler wasn’t playing - and see some 12-year-old donned all in orange. In fact, it began to get a bit creepy when adults began wearing the same colour head to toe. So now you can expect those kids (hopefully not the adults) to start wearing high-top golf shoes with jogger pants, as Folwer did in Hawaii. The shoes look somewhat like the ones worn in the NBA and the pants are tight around the ankle. If nothing else, Fowler is a trend-setter.

Schedule Setter

The two names at the top of the leaderboard, Spieth and Patrick Reed, had very short off-seasons. Spieth said he took a three-week break while Reed said the most he missed was about a week. Meanwhile, Jason Day measured his off-season in months, putting his clubs away after the Presidents Cup in October and not coming back until mid-December. Of course he welcomed a new baby into the world which was part of the reason for his rest. But with a jam-packed season ahead, you wonder how many of the short-breakers will start to burn out come mid-year. There is a two-month stretch between the U.S. Open and the Olympics that is filled with can’t-miss events including majors and World Golf Championships. Then, for the European and American players, there’s also the Ryder Cup. Rest may be the biggest factor in the year ahead for some of these guys and perhaps Day’s plan was a wise one.

Padraig's Back

Perhaps the biggest surprise in the leaderboard was that of Padraig Harrington, who tied for sixth. It was the first time Harrington had finished inside the top 10 since his surprise win at the Honda Classic last March. The Irishman followed up that performance by missing the cut in 7 of the next 12 tournaments he played. He also had off-season knee surgery and aided his recovery in typical Harrington weirdness, he said, but sitting in cryo-baths with a temperature of minus-140. While he admitted to being so weak in his practice rounds that he needed to take a cart, he played well enough to cash a big cheque.   

Stat of the Week

The Kapalua course in Hawaii has never been known as one of the toughest on tour. This week, it gave up 24 bogey free rounds and the par-73 course had a scoring average of 69.805.