KAPALUA, Hawaii — Collin Morikawa has played Kapalua enough to know that trailing Hideki Matsuyama by seven shots early in the second round is no reason to panic. Indeed, he almost caught the Japanese star on Friday at The Sentry.
Matsuyama played bogey-free on another beautiful day in Maui with moderate winds, making seven birdies on the 10-hole during his round and posting an 8-under 65 to get one shot into the PGA weekend. The starter of the tour season.
Morikawa reeled off five straight birdies in the late scoring — only one of them longer than 5 feet — until his streak ended on the closing par-5 hole on the Plantation course with a 1-foot birdie putt. 12 misses at the top. on the side.
He also had a 65 and was expecting more at the weekend. Conditions are important in scoring, and Sentry has the best players from the PGA Tour in the past year.
“If you look at the leaderboard, I go through six holes and I’m at the top and the guys are already playing it,” Morikawa said. “But like I said, I don’t tell myself I have to be patient. I just know this golf course, and I know anytime you can go slow, and I had to keep playing my game. .”
It was Morikawa’s eighth time with 65 or better at Kapalua, the most by any player since 2020 when the two-time major champion made his debut.
Matsuyama went about his business, smiling big as he holed a 35-foot birdie putt from beyond the green on the 3rd 11th. He was 16-under 130 with a pack of players lined up behind him.
“I’m really satisfied where I am,” said Matsuyama.
Ten players are separated by three shots heading into the invitation-only tournament weekend with the PGA Tour winners since 2024 and the top 50 in the FedEx Cup.
Canada’s Corey Conners and Belgium’s Thomas Detry were among those at 14-under 132 for their big finishes.
Conners holed a 40-foot eagle putt on the par-5 15th, followed by two mid-range birdie putts and two putts from before the green on the 18th for another birdie and a 66. Detry was 6 under for the final. six holes. He drove the green on the 306-yard 14th hole to 10 feet for eagle and had to make par on the 18th for a 65.
The field averaged 68.1, capped by Davis Riley posting his first 80 of the season. He made four straight birdies, a solid putt-putt par and then took a 9 on the 17th hole with a loose ball to the right on one tee shot and a second tee shot to the left hazard. The edge of those thugs was about the length of a football field.
Only four players failed to shine.
For everyone else, it was a matter of looking at the green areas that feed the hole and getting money from the birds.
Sepp Straka birdied every hole on the back until he hit his best shot, 6 feet to 20, but missed the putt. He shot 65.
Eight players shot 64, a group that included Davis Thompson, who was 14 shots better than his first round of the year. Patrick Cantlay was 10 shots better with his 64.
“Now I have to do it again,” said Cantlay, who was still shooting behind Matsuyama.
Among the group three shots behind was former US Open champion Wyndham Clark, who birdied eight of the last 10 holes. Clark made the argument that the low goals were a product of the players, not the course.
“I don’t like this low, but at the same time, we make courses like this look easy,” said Clark. “To be honest, it’s not that easy. Usually, there’s a lot of wind here, and we didn’t have a lot of wind today, so you’ll have a lot of bird sightings and sometimes an eagle sighting.
“I’ve never shot 20 under on the PGA Tour, so maybe I can break it this week.”
At this rate, that won’t be enough.
Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley also had a 64, marked by an eagle on the final hole and his two sons running down the fairway as he walked to the 18th green. Bradley has not decided whether he will play in the Ryder Cup. But that is still a long way off.
“We are two rounds to 2025,” he said. “So when we get to July and it looks like that, we’ll start talking, but for now I’ll just keep playing well.”
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