I don't think Phil counted on Kai coming in this good---a miscalculation on his part. Phil should always think, that since he is Mr. O, that he should coming in at the least, 15% better than the last time. Which means, that the others are trying to match the old version, not the new one.
Kai has always been Phil's Achilles heel. Before he was a stumbling block, and then he thought he lept over that hurdle, but Kai is not a quiter, and remade himself. I give a lot of credit to Kai for this.... humble, and hardworking. Whereas which each outing Branch looks worse, and he gets more and more arrogant.