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Hideki Matsuyama piled up 11 birdies in an 11-under par 62 Saturday to set the 54-hole tournament record at 27 under and maintain a one-shot lead over Collin Morikawa at The Sentry tournament in Kapalua, Hawaii.
Morikawa also posted a 62, with nine birdies and an eagle.
With the winds that so often buffet the Plantation Course once again largely absent, five players posted rounds of 10 under or better.
Matsuyama gave him a 54-hole score of 192, one shot better than the previous 54-hole tournament record.
Japan’s Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, got things started with a run of four consecutive birdies from the third to the sixth. He made a 58-foot birdie putt at the par-five ninth to tie the turn with Morikawa.
After birdies at the 10th and 12th, he took the lead for good with a three-foot birdie at the 14th. That started a streak of three straight birdies, and Matsuyama kept the momentum going with an improbable par at 17 after his tee shot ended up on the wrong side of the cart path.
He closed with a birdie at the par-five 18th, where he muscled his second shot to the edge of the green and holed two putts to maintain his advantage over Morikawa.
“Collin played well and I kind of followed him, so have a good day,” said Matsuyama, who is closing in on his 20th professional victory and 11th on the PGA Tour.
Morikawa hit 12 of 15 fairways and all regulation greens. He kept the pressure on Matsuyama the rest of the way, starting with an eight-foot birdie putt.
After birdies at the third and fourth, he holed a 26-foot eagle putt at the fifth and was six under for the day after a birdie at the ninth.
He added birdies at 11 and 12, and another pair at 15 and 16 before finishing with a birdie at 18.
“Today was really, really good,” said Morikawa, whose six PGA Tour titles include the 2020 PGA Championship and the 2021 British Open. “A couple of shots there (were) a little squirrely, but for Most of them had their irons in the center of the face – they knew where they were going.”
His most recent victory was the 2023 Zozo Championship in Japan, where he ended a nearly two-year title drought, and Morikawa was delighted that the work he had put in during the offseason was paying off in of the opening tournament of the season.
“It’s nice that it’s coming together,” he said. “It doesn’t mean you’re going to immediately finish in the top 10, top five, and have a chance to win. But it’s nice to be able to put it all together and score in a tournament .”
Sunday promised to be another Matsuyama-Morikawa duel. Belgian Thomas Detry was four shots behind Morikawa after a 65 for 197.
South Korea’s Im Sungjae scored an impressive 62 to place solo fourth on 198, while England’s Harry Hall posted a 66 on 199.
World number one Scottie Scheffler was not among the 60 after injuring his hand in a Christmas Day cooking accident.
bb/sev
