Hideki Matsuyama and Collin Morikawa who were paired together for the penultimate round battled through the day to stay first and second at The Sentry tournament in Hawaii on Saturday. Image courtesy PGA Tour/Getty Images.
By Rahul Banerji
Hideki Matsuyama hit a career-best 11 birdies en route a stunning bogey-free 62 to retain a one-stroke third round lead over Collin Morikawa at The Sentry in Hawaii on Saturday.
Two-time major winner Morikawa stayed hard on Matsuyama’s heels at the PGA Tour’s $20 million Signature season-opening event with all to play for on Sunday.
Matsuyama, 32, put himself in pole position for his 11th career victory by equalling the 54-hole score in relation to par at 27-under at the Plantation Course at Kapalua in Hawaii, the PGA Tour said.
His three-day total of 192 marked the tournament’s 54-hole low score to par since the event moved to Kapalua, and was also Matsuyama’s career best.
Morikawa also shot a fine 62 playing alongside Matsuyama as the duo put on a birdie-fest with debutant Thomas Detry (67-65-65) finishing the day in third place, five off the lead.
Korea’s Sungjae Im (69-67-62) was a further shot back after a tying his career low with a 62.
“Collin played well and I just kind of followed him, so good day,” said Matsuyama, who will take his eighth career 54-hole lead/co-lead after going bogey-free for a second straight day.
“It was a lot of fun,” Matsuyama (65-65-62) said, “but I would like for him to take it easy tomorrow.”
Dead centre
“Today was really, really good. Couple shots out there a little squirrely, but for the most part the irons were centre face, knew where they were going,” Morikawa (66-65-62) said.
After making pars on three par-5s on Friday, the Japanese 10-time winner birdied all four par-5s in ideal scoring conditions to keep his nose ahead of Morikawa, who is seeking a seventh career win.
Matsuyama knows he needs to keep focusing on only his own game to have a chance of another win.
“Just have to play my game, play my best,” said Matsuyama, who won twice in 2024.
Im, who has three top-10s in four starts at The Sentry, kept up his fine run at Kapalua with an eagle and nine birdies to tie his career-low round on Tour. He will enter the final day six shots behind Matsuyama.
“This is a course where everybody can be aggressive and make a lot of birdies when there’s no wind, so I think everybody was aggressive today, and I was also aggressive.
Perfect day
“I think it was a perfect day for me. Last year I shot 10 birdies and 10 under in the final round, but this year I shot 11 under par in the third round, so I think I’m in a good position for Sunday,” said the two-time winner.
He was delighted to snare a 60-foot eagle on the par-5 fifth hole. “Probably my best shot today,” he said. ‘I want to give myself a pat on the back because I played so well today.”
“I shot 8-under today, but didn’t really feel like I shot 8-under,” Belgium’s Detry, who also went bogey-free on Saturday, said.
“Other courses when you shoot 8-under you really feel like, ‘Oh, yeah, I played unreal golf here.’ I just felt like I played some really steady golf.”
This is the eighth time Matsuyama will lead into the final rounds, having converted the position four times into wins, most recently at the FedEx St. Jude Championship last year.
Making the most of the benign conditions, Detry posted his career-low 54-hole score of 197, improving on his previous best of 199 at the 2022 Butterfield Bermuda Championship.
Also read: Matsuyama climbs into halfway lead at The Sentry in Hawaii
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