What we learned: McIlroy good, Thomas special, Waialae easy

Justin Thomas ran away from the field at the Sony Open with a 27-under-par total. Thomas went wire-to-wire for his second straight win and made history in each round he played.

On the European Tour, Rory McIlroy lost to Graeme Storm in a playoff, but the bigger news was that the four-time major winner will undergo a scan on his injured back.

Here's what we learned when the dust settled Sunday evening:

Despite the bad back, McIlroy looked good

The world No. 2 made his 2017 debut at the South African Open and looked great in all facets of his game. McIlory shot 18-under par over four days and hit over 73 percent of the fairways, displaying his power and balance.

He was dialed in with his iron play, hitting 74 percent of the greens.

The new Callaway putter worked just fine, averaging 27.7 putts per round, including this stretch on Friday:

The Northern Irishman was scheduled to play next week at the Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, and said after the round he hopes to be good to go.

The Aloha Sweep for Thomas

Justin Thomas had a brilliant two weeks in Hawaii. Thomas became the first player since Ernie Els in 2003 to win both the Tournament of Champions and the Sony Open. The 23-year-old set a number of records this week and is now a four-time winner on the PGA Tour. The Alabama alum proved he can win going away - even when he said he didn't have his best stuff over the weekend - or grind out a victory like he did last week. When he got into any sort of trouble, his short game was there to help him out.

Thomas beat great fields at both stops and showed he's ready to do the same at the majors.

White Flag for Waialae

Waialae Country Club was defenseless all week. The fairways were running out, the greens were receptive and there was little if no wind, meaning the players were shredding the course. The #59Watch was trending daily on Twitter thanks to Thomas doing it Thursday, while Zack Johnson and Bryce Molder flirted Friday en route to each shooting 61. The weekend saw Kevin Kisner miss a 10-footer Saturday to post a 60 and Chez Reavie blew a chance for an even lower number than 59 Sunday, settling for a 61.