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The Sentry won by Hideki Matsuyama in record fashion to open PGA Tour 2025 season

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The Sentry won by Hideki Matsuyama in record fashion to open PGA Tour 2025 season

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It was another Signature victory for Hideki Matsuyama and an all-time PGA Tour record.

Matusyama, the stoic, slow-swinging native of Japan, birdied the par-5 18th hole of the Kapalua Plantation Course in Maui, Hawaii on Sunday on an 8-foot putt to set the 72-hole Tour scoring record of 35-under-par 257 and beat Collin Morikawa by three shots in The Sentry, the PGA Tour’s opening event of the 2025 season.

Matsuyama (65) stretched a two-shot lead over Morikawa (67) at the start of the final round to four shots on two occasions on the front nine and stayed at least two shots clear for the rest of the round. Matsuyama broke Cameron Smith’s record of 34-under in the 2022 tournament.

Matsuyama earned $3.6 million out of a total purse of $20 million in winning the first of the Tour’s eight Signature Events and picked up 700 FedEx Cup points to stake out big leads in both categories

It also continued his knack of winning big events. Matsuyama’s 11 PGA Tour titles include the 2021 Masters, two of the old World Golf Championship events, The Memorial, the FedEx Cup Playoff St. Jude Classic, and now two Signature events, adding The Sentry to his Genesis Invitational title in 2023.

Hideki Matsuyama eagles par-4 third hole

Matsuyama used a wedge to hole out from 107 yards away for an eagle-two at the third hole, set up birdies at the par-5 fifth and ninth holes with solid chips, then dropped putts of 30 feet at No. 11 and 21 feet at No. 12 to take command of the tournament.

Morikawa, who shot 62 in the third round to make the final group, lost his putting stroke early as he missed 25-foot birdie attempts at Nos. 1 and 4, three-putted for par at No. 5, missed a 5-footer for par at No. 6 and missed a 12-footer for birdie at No. 9.

Morikawa birdied Nos. 10, 11, 13 and 14 but Matsuyama refused to relent and nearly made another eagle on a par-4 hole when his approach at No. 16 spun back and nearly caught the edge of the cup. He birdied from 4 feet away.

In addition to breaking the 72-hole record, Matsuyama broke Smith’s 2022 record of 34 birdies during the tournament when he dropped his final putt for 35. Im tied Smith with 34 on Sunday.

Matsuyama also became the seventh player in PGA Tour history to win both tournaments on the opening Hawaiian Swing. He won the Sony Open, which is next week in Honolulu, in 2022.

Taylor Pendrith makes 2 at No. 5

Taylor Pendrith, who tied for 13th after a final-round 67, made an albatross on the par-5 fifth hole, the first at The Sentry since it moved to Kapalua in 1999, the 142nd on the PGA Tour and first since Nick Hardy at the 2024 Butterfield Bermuda Championship.

Pendrith used a 6-iron from 203 yards.

This report was updated to add new information.

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