(Photo credit score: Kyle Terada-Imagn Images)
Hideki Matsuyama opened the PGA Tour season in record-breaking type final weekend on the Plantation Course in Kapalua, Hawaii.
The Japanese star will trip a wave of birdies to Honolulu this week as he tries to make it a two-week sweep on the Sony Open in Hawaii, starting Thursday at Waialae Country Club.
Matsuyama received The Sentry on Sunday with a 35-under-par 257, the bottom 72-hole rating in relation to par in PGA Tour historical past. He turned the seventh participant to win each of the tour’s Hawaii occasions, having beforehand captured the Sony Open in 2022.
“I’m very happy. I wanted to definitely win both tournaments in Hawaii,” Matsuyama mentioned via a translator. “So, I’m very happy to be able to do that.”
He would be the man to beat this week because of his present kind, his previous success at Waialae and the truth that he’s the one top-10 participant within the area.
The week bought off to a somber begin, although, because the event will likely be performed with out its 2024 champion, the late Grayson Murray.
Four months after Murray received his second PGA Tour title on the Sony Open, he died by suicide at age 30. The tour and Murray’s household organized a celebration of life ceremony for him earlier this week on the web site of his ultimate victory.
Murray defeated Keegan Bradley and South Korean Byeong Hun An in a playoff final 12 months by draining a 38-foot birdie putt.
“Weird feeling (during a practice round) playing the 18th hole for me. Last time I was there, I was there with Grayson,” Bradley mentioned. “Really sad. Really a horrible thing. Hopefully we can honor him, his legacy here for a long time.”
Matsuyama is one among six PGA Tour winners within the area this week, together with Si Woo Kim of South Korea (ranked No. 65 on the earth) and Russell Henley (No. 17).
The Sony Open will function principally a mixture of kids, newcomers and a few veterans making their first begins of the season after The Sentry had a restricted area of 59 gamers.
Gary Woodland, for instance, hasn’t received a event for the reason that 2019 U.S. Open and is getting into his final 12 months of exemption on tour. His 2024 season was targeted on working his means again from surgical procedure to take away a mind lesion.
“I’m as optimistic about my golf game as I’ve been since I won the U.S. Open in 2019,” Woodland mentioned Wednesday. “One, I’m starting to feel better. Two, I understand what I need to do, slowing my brain down, slowing my heart rate down.”
Twenty-five PGA Tour rookies are making their first begins. Joining them on a sponsor’s exemption is World No. 1 beginner Luke Clanton, a 21-year-old Florida State golfer who notched 4 top-10 finishes on tour in 2024. If Clanton locations within the prime 5 this week, he can have earned sufficient factors for an computerized tour card through the PGA Tour University pathway.
–Field Level Media