[PHOTO: Tracy Wilcox]
Let’s get the caveats and asterisks out of the way first. When the trade winds don’t pick up on the island of Maui in early January, the Kapalua Plantation course is as ripe for deep red numbers as any setup on the PGA Tour. To wit, nine of the past 10 editions of The Sentry have been won at 21-under par or better, with Cameron Smith setting the tournament record of 34-under in 2022. The only outlier was 2020, when there were 30mph gusts at various points in the week and Justin Thomas won a three-man playoff at only 14-under.
No wind means no defence for Kapaula, which has eight par 4s of 390 metres or shorter and three par 5s of less than 505. Heck, the downhill 610-metre 18th has played as the third easiest on the course in this week’s Sentry. It’s Wedge City everywhere in the season’s $US20 million signature season opener.
Now for the superlatives. Playing together in the third round, major winners Hideki Matsuyama and Collin Morikawa combined to stuff in 20 birdies and an eagle as each fired an 11-under-par 62, with Matsuyama forging a one-shot lead by setting the Kapalua 54-hole tournament record at 27-under 192. The total equals the 54-hole tour scoring record relative to par previously reached in the American Express event by then-amateur Nick Dunlap last year and Patrick Reed in 2014.
Morikawa is only one shot behind, with the only difference from Matsuayma in his results being the 66 the Californian scored in the opening round compared to the Japanese star’s 65.
The average score in round three was 5.5 shots under par, and Sungjae Im also registered a 62 to get into fourth at 21-under. Just ahead of him by a stroke is Belgian Thomas Detry (65).
Morikawa, past winner of the PGA Championship and Open Championship, made nine birdies and an eagle in the third round and said of the conditions, “It’s not what you want every week because it’s a lot. It’s draining just as much as it’s draining shooting even-par at a major championship. But, you know, I don’t mind being in Hawaii first week of the year. We could be somewhere else and we’re shooting these scores, and I probably wouldn’t want to be there either, so…”
Seeking his seventh career win, Morikawa, 27, is coming off a 2024 campaign that was a bit unsatisfying only because he didn’t win. And the world No.4 can basically tell himself there was a victory – he topped the ‘ghost’ leaderboard in the Tour Championship, shooting 22-under for the week at East Lake, but lost the FedEx Cup title to Scottie Scheffler because of the staggered start. Morikawa got himself into contention plenty, also playing in the final groups in the Masters (T-3), PGA (T-4), Memorial (second) and RBC Heritage (ninth).
Now, in today’s final pairing, he draws Matsuyama, the 10-time tour winner and the 2021 Masters champion who arrived in Hawaii this week with four putters in his possession and has ridden a new Scotty Cameron centre-shafted blade with supreme confidence. Last season, Matsuyama ranked 121st in strokes gained/putting; at Kapalua, he’s eighth, while being No.1 in approach and six-from-six in scrambling.
At 32, Matsuyama is accustomed to a white-hot spotlight and a first victory at Kapaula and second in Hawaii (he won the ’22 Sony Open) would please his homeland and the many transplants from his country who reside in the islands.
Currently ranked sixth in the world, Matsuyama was typically light on insight after his third round, waving off the day’s success by saying through a translator, “Collin played well and I just kind of followed him, so a good day.”
Asked what’s been the best part of his game through three rounds, Matsuyama didn’t bite. “I’m not sure,” was the response.
He did admit that playing alongside Morikawa was “a lot of fun. But I would like for him,” he added, “to take it easy tomorrow.”
Morikawa is not in a head space to oblige. The close calls last year have given him a new resolve to be stronger mentally in these situations.
“We got 20 more events for the rest of the season; you can be ho-hum about it and, ‘Yeah, I want to win,’ but that’s not the mindset,” he said. “I’m going to focus on every shot and I’m going to put in as much as I can into every shot.
“…You look back at the greats, they did that. You look back at Tiger, he did that every single week. I think if I asked myself, ‘Did I do that the past six years, every time?’ Probably not. But it’s hard – it’s hard to do that, but that’s what I’m going into this year is saying, ‘I’ve got four days, let’s see what I can do.'”
