Matsuyama breaks PGA Tour record, wins The Sentry

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama knew he had to keep making birdies during the final round of The Sentry.

He ended up making history, too.

Matsuyama couldn't be caught while shooting an 8-under-par 65 to win The Sentry, the PGA Tour's season opener, on Sunday at The Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii.

Matsuyama finished at 35-under-257, the lowest 72-hole score to par in PGA Tour history. It was good for a three-stroke victory over runner-up Collin Morikawa, who shot 67.

Matsuyama birdied the final hole, a par-5, to reach 35-under.

"That last putt, it felt like, if I make it, then it's going to be the record," Matsuyama said. "So, I'm so happy that it went in."

It marks Matsuyama's 11th career victory on the tour and follows two tournament titles last year.

Matsuyama holed out for an eagle on the par-4 third hole, with the ball bouncing a couple of times before landing in the cup, as his lead grew to three strokes. The margin was four shots going into the back nine, even after Matsuyama's bogey on the par-4 seventh — just his second of the tournament.

Morikawa's birdie on the 15th hole closed the gap to two shots. Matsuyama responded with a birdie on the next hole.

"He just never let up," Morikawa said. "Then you get to the third hole, and the guy holes it. I just knew I had to be on top of everything, and just kind of let a few slip on that front nine."

Matsuyama, who turns 33 next month, took the lead during Friday's second round and kept up the pace of birdie scores. Morikawa had matched Matsuyama's scores Friday and Saturday (65 and 62), entering the final round trailing by one shot.

Matsuyama has won three times in under 12-months, and this type of result was his goal for the beginning of 2025.

"I was able to have a great offseason, get a fresh start and play well this week," he said. "So, it was a great way to start."

Morikawa was hoping for more out of his mostly stellar performance across four days.

"Just going through the shots I left out there," he said. "There was a good handful that I wish I could have back. I know there are a lot of positives, and it's going to take me a few hours, or a day, to get over it."

South Korea's Im Sung-jae (65) was third at 29-under, and Venezuela's Jhonattan Vegas (65) placed fourth at 25-under.

Belgium's Thomas Detry (71), Sweden's Ludvig Aberg (64) and Canada's Corey Conners (67) shared fifth place at 24-under.

Even golfers turning in impressive scores like those were merely afterthoughts to Matsuyama's excellence.

"Obviously, you need to shoot a lot of low scores to keep up here," Aberg said.

"It's a great place to start, and looking forward to a long, good season."

Morikawa said the strong showing in the tournament could be a springboard.

"I came out here trying to be ready for golf, and I'm going to try and do that for every event out there," he said. "I don't care if it's my third, fourth week in a row, first week after whatever, that's going to be the mentality for the entire year."

Canada's Taylor Pendrith recorded the first albatross in the 27-year history of the tournament, helping him to a 67 for the second day in a row. He ended up tied for 13th place at 22-under. His two on the par-5 fifth hole was the highlight, though a double-bogey on No 17 took some shine off his round.

"I was just trying to hit a hard 6-iron and land it kind of front third (of the green) and let it chase back," Pendrith said of the albatross. "As soon as I hit it, I knew it was going to be really good, didn't expect it to go in, didn't see it go in, but the fans that were up by the green went crazy."

All 58 golfers who finished the tournament were 3-under or better.

Reuters