Hideki Matsuyama sets PGA Tour scoring record in win at The Sentry | The Sunday Swing

The Sunday Swing 
January 5th, 2025

Welcome back to a very special opening drive edition of the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. This week the PGA Tour kicked off its 2025 season in Maui at The Sentry. Not only is it the first regular season tournament, it is also the first signature event of the year offering players a chance at a big payday and a jump start on the FedEx Cup leaderboard.

The Sentry - Tournament History 

Kapalua Resort has been home to the Sentry to kick off the new year since 1999. The course is extremely unique, home to some of the largest fairways and greens as well as massive elevation change. The par-73 plays as the easiest course on the PGA Tour, with scoring records being broken seemingly every season. The combination of reachable par-5’s and driveable par-4’s have turned the Sentry into a shootout. In 2022, Australian Cameron Smith set a new tournament scoring record at 34-under par for the week, beating Jon Rahm by just one shot. In 1999, a young Tiger Woods gave golf fans one of many great memories after he and Ernie Els had an epic dual down the stretch. Both players made eagle at the par-5 18th hole in regulation, then again in a playoff before Woods made a long range birdie putt on the No. 1 green to close out the tournament. The course has also produced some of the longest drives in tour history thanks to holes No. 7 and 18 that are known to produce upwards of 75 yards in roll out paired with elevated tee boxes. Last year Max Homa had the longest drive of the week at 477 yards. For the entirety of the 2024 season, nine of the 10 longest drives came at Kapalua during opening week. 

For a long time the Sentry was known as the tournament of champions, allowing only the previous years winners into the field. Last year, the PGA Tour decided to expand the field so that now the winners along with the top-50 FedEx Cup finishers are eligible to compete. This year the field consisted of 59 players, with both Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler missing this year's opener. 

The previous five champions of this event are as follows: 

2025 - Hideki Matsuyama (-35)
2024 - Chris Kirk (-29)
2023 - Jon Rahm (-27)
2022 - Cameron Smith (-34)
2021 - Harris English (-25) 

The Big Swing 

To start the 2025 season, the big swing belongs to Hideki Matsuyama. He’s coming off of another great season where we saw him pick up a couple of big wins including the Genesis at Riviera and the FedEx St. Jude. He led the PGA Tour in strokes gained around the green in 2024 which was a big part of his success. 

Matsuyama picked up in 2025 right where he left off, shooting an opening round 8-under 65. Leading the way after day one was Tom Hoge, who posted an impressive 9-under 64. Also playing well to no one’s surprise was Collin Morikawa, who posted a  7-under 66 and has never finished worse than 7th at the Sentry. The plantation course really only has one form of defense- wind. This week the wind was down and almost non-existent for a majority of the tournament, pushing scores even lower. 

Matsuyama backed up his Thursday 65 with another one on Friday, securing his position at the top of the leaderboard. Morikawa fired a 65 of his own on Friday to stay just one back of Hideki’s blistering pace. Canadian Corey Conners also had his game in good form, as he opened the week with a pair of 66’s. 

As the third round began, the wind was down again and the players continued to take advantage. It became the round of 62s. Sungjae Im was one of the players who went the lowest, making nine birdies and an eagle with no bogeys on his way to an 11-under round of 62. He surged up the leaderboard but still ended up trailing the leaders at the end of the day. Morikawa and Matsuyama put on a show all afternoon exchanging birdies. Morikawa started out hot, going 5-under through the first five holes after making eagle at the par-5 5th. Meanwhile, Matsuyama was gearing up at this point as well, making birdies on holes 3-6. Morikawa went on to pick up six more birdies on his way to matching Im’s 62. Matsuyama was able to match them both, making six birdies on the back nine to post yet another 62. Hideki would take a one shot lead into Sunday sitting at 27-under par, with Morikawa just one behind. The next closest was Thomas Detry, who got it to 22-under thanks to a third-round 65. 

With a Sunday shootout setup between two of the games premier ball strikers, anticipation was high for another dramatic finish at Kapalua. The final round began with pars for Morikawa and Matsuyama at the first two holes. Detry made a costly double bogey at the fifth hole which squashed his chances at a comeback victory. At the third hole the fireworks began when Matsuyama holed his second shot from the fairway for an eagle. Morikawa was able to make a nice birdie of his own, but still saw the deficit grow. 

Matsuyama extended the lead to three at the fifth with a birdie while Morikawa made a 3-putt par. Another three-putt the very next hole by Morikawa pushed the deficit to four – and a sizable gap between he and Matsuyama remained for the rest of the round. Collin was able to turn at 1-under par and then picked up a couple more birdies at 10 and 11. Matsuyama racked up several more birdies to bring the tournament scoring record into the picture. 

After a 2-putt birdie for Morikawa to finish at 32-under, the stage was clear for Hideki who had a putt to break the tournament scoring record. One last stroke from 8-feet saw Matsuyama get to 35-under which set the new record at Kapalua. The victory also marked Matsuyama’s 11th on Tour, and sets him up for another successful season in 2025. Morikawa gets the solo 2nd finish and is still seeking his first victory on the PGA Tour since October of 2023. Another good day from Im got him in at 29-under and solo 3rd.  

Winner’s Bag - Hideki Matsuyama 

Hideki Matsuyama picked up the first victory of the 2025 season on Sunday in Maui thanks to a hot putter and elite ball striking. Matsuyama made a putter change last year, but has made another before the 2025 campaign and it is already paying off. The Srixon/Cleveland staffer put the new putter in the bag a few weeks ago and used it in competition for the first time this week. Despite the Srixon logo, Hideki’s bag still contains plenty of variety. Starting at the top of the bag, Matsuyama plays the Srixon ZX5 MK II LS (9.5 degrees). He carries a Taylormade Qi10 3-wood (15 degrees) along with a Cobra King RadSpeed Tour 5-wood (19 degrees). Coined as one of the most prolific iron players on tour, Matsuyama plays a classic style iron: the Srixon Z-Forged (4-9 iron). Around the greens, Hideki plays a trio of Cleveland RTX 4 Forged Prototype wedges (48, 52, and 56 degrees). The new putter that powered Hideki’s strong putting performance this week was a Scotty Cameron 009M Center Shaft tour Prototype. Hideki said that he saw a similar putter in someone’s bag and “liked the way it looked” so he decided to give it a shot. Matsuyama plays the Srixon Z-Star XV golf ball. 

Key Stats

Strokes Gained: Off the Tee- 16th

Strokes Gained: Approach to Green- 2nd

Strokes Gained: Around the Green- 12th 

Strokes Gained: Putting- 3rd

Strokes Gained: Total- 1st