The Punter's De-brief: Magnificent Matsuyama cruises to Sentry success

• Japanese breaks record as he wins in style

• Ruthless Matsuyama now 10 from 10 when leading

• Read Steve's Sony Open preview here

Pre-event 34.033/1 chance, Hideki Matsuyama, was trading at 6.411/2 after an opening eight-under-par 64 around the Plantation Course on Thursday saw him sitting tied for second, just one shot behind the early pacesetter, Tome Hoge.

The Japanese player was a 3.711/4 chance when leading at halfway by one after another 64 on Friday, despite missing a few short putts towards the end of round two.

A course record-equalling 11-under-par 62 in the benign conditions on Saturday saw Matsuyama head into round four leading Collin Morikawa by a stroke and trading at around 1.855/6 and it didn't take long for the leader to move further clear.

After a pair of pars at one and two, Matsuyama shot three clear of Morikawa, his only serious rival, when he holed out from the fairway for an eagle two on the par four third.

Buckets from the fairway!
@HidekiOfficial_ holes out for eagle and leads by three @TheSentry.

NBC/Peacock pic.twitter.com/CxrX4NVjUc

-- PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) January 5, 2025

To Morikawa's credit, he birdied the hole from 13 feet to stay in touch, but the gap was back to three at the par five fifth.

Despite missing the green long with his second shot at the easy par five fifth, Matsuyama made his 20^th birdie or better in-a-row at the hole and Morikawa failed to respond.

Having hit his second shot onto the green and to within 30 feet of the hole, Morikawa made his first three-putt of the week to record a par five. He followed it with his second three-whack at six to make a bogey five.

The lead had been stretched to four and Matsuyama was matched at a low of 1.111/9 but after a run of 48 holes without dropping a shot, the Japanese bogeyed the seventh hole to give Morikawa a modicum of hope.

The lead was back to four when Matsuyama birdied the par five ninth after both he and Morikawa had birdied the par three eighth. Morikawa never really got a look in after that.

Matsuyama made back-to-back birdies at 11 and 12 before finishing with two more at 16 and 18 to post a 35-under-par total to win by three and break the PGA Tour's 72-hole scoring record. It's a record that could well stand the test of time if the changes to the fifth mentioned below go ahead.

Hideki's 35 under might be safe for a while.

Mark Rolfing says there have been discussions this week to turn the par-5 fifth hole into a par-4 for next year's Sentry, making Kapalua's Plantation Course a par 72.

-- Brentley Romine (@BrentleyGC) January 6, 2025

Can Matsuyama double up in the Sony?

Having won the 2022 edition of this week's event, the Sony Open, Matsuyama is now the seventh man to win both The Sentry and the Sony Open.

Jim Furyk, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Zach Johnson, Justin Thomas and Cameron Smith have all won both events recently. Matsuyama will be fancied to emulate Els and Thomas who the two tournaments back-to-back.

Hard to play catch up at Kapalua

Matsuyama was within a stroke of the lead after round one and following his success, 24 of the 27 editions of the event at the Plantation Course have been won by someone within three strokes of the lead after round one.

Drilling further down into the stats, since Stuart Appleby won from off the pace in 2005, as many as 17 of the 20 Sentry winners have been inside the top five places and within two of the lead after round one. It really is a frontrunners track if the wind doesn't blow.

Given it's the first event of the year, and some players haven't played competitively in months, playing for only modest stakes before the off and concentrating on the leaders after round one makes sense here. Especially if the forecast predicts light winds.

It's never easy to make up ground in a low scoring event and it's even harder to do so in benign conditions.

Tiger-like Matsuyama a different beast to Morikawa

Although always up against it, Morikawa did touch even money in-running when he led by a stroke on Saturday after he'd eagled the par five fifth, but he continues to be someone to oppose in-contention.

His sole success in the last three years came at the ZOZO Championship in 2023 and all but one of his six PGA Tour successes have come from off the pace.

In stark contrast, Matsuyama has now won three PGA Tour titles in the last 11 months. He's starting to perform like a peak Tiger Woods in contention given he's now converted his last 10 54-hole leads.

As highlighted in the Sony Open preview, 54-hole leaders have been worth taking on at Waialae lately. I'm not sure it will be worth opposing Matsuyama if he's leading again on Sunday morning.

*You can follow me on Twitter @SteveThePunter

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