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KAPALUA, Hawaii – NBC/Golf Channel commentator Mark Rolfing first came to Kapalua in 1977 and started in the cart barn. He’s seen it all at Kapalua Resort but even he called the lack of wind during the third round of The Sentry, which left the Plantation Course defenseless, a rarity.
“This is what they called the doldrums,” Rolfing said. “When the boats just sat in the ocean and couldn’t have moved.”
The Plantation Course is a resort course 51 weeks a year with generous fairways and lush conditions that allowed the pros to torch the Bill Coore-Ben Crenshaw layout. Birdies were made in bunches and were more plentiful than the pineapples that once grew on these grounds. Max Homa shook his head and said he felt pretty good about making three birdies on the front nine, only to look up to the leaderboard and realize he’d dropped three spots on the leaderboard.
No one did more damage than the leaders as Hideki Matsuyama and Collin Morikawa torched the Plantation to the tune of matching rounds of 11-under 62. Poor Corey Conners, the third man in the group, was left in the dust with a 69. The birdie barrage by Matsuyama, his career low in the tournament, lifted him to 27-under 192, a new 54-hole tournament record since the tournament moved to Kapalua in 1999 and equaled the Tour mark in relation to par (on record), joining Nick Dunlap (2024 American Express) and Patrick Reed (2014 American Express). But his work is far from done as Morikawa is hot on his tail, just one stroke back.
“Collin played well and I just kind of followed him, so good day,” Matsuyama said.
No better example than at the par-4 16th when Morikawa, who raced to a 5-under start through his first five holes after an eagle at five, and his caddie J.J. Jakovac debated his club choice of a sand wedge from 85 yards.
“J.J. and I kind of had like different views on how to hit the shot in the first cut,” Morikawa said. “I told him how I was going to hit it, exactly how I did, and it was nice to have a little tap in birdie.”
Matsuyama, who is looking for his 11th Tour title, said whatever you can do, I can do better and from 63 yards flew a wedge past the hole and used the backboard to bring it back within a foot. The course played easy, but both players still had to execute and probably left a few strokes out there.
Morikawa, who has never finished worse than T-7 in this event, is looking to win for the first time since the 2023 Zozo Championship and exact some revenge for the 2023 Sentry when he blew a six-stroke lead to Jon Rahm. It feels like a two-man race unless Thomas Detry, who shot 8-under 65, and is alone in third at 22 under, or someone with even more ground to make up, can mount a charge.
“I shot 8 under today, but didn’t really feel like I shot 8 under,” he 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.”
Detry is seeking his first PGA Tour title, and knows he’ll likely have to go even lower on Sunday. Perhaps the weather will play a factor too. The weather forecast is calling for a south wind, blowing into the mountain, and will make the course play backwards.
“With all these birdies out here, if you make a bogey it’s almost like losing two shots,” Detry said. His plan for Sunday? “Just keep going,” the Belgian said. “Hole 1 is pretty much a wedge, hole 3 is a wedge in your hand, par-5 fifth is a very short one. There’s plenty of opportunities out there early on in the round, so if I can get 3, 4 under early on, I think I could put on a good fight.”
Expect Morikawa to keep applying the pressure too. He posted his ninth round of 65 or better at The Sentry since 2020, most of any player. Morikawa struggled last year on Sundays at the Masters, RBC Heritage and PGA Championship, just to name a few of the times he was in the final group but failed to hoist a trophy. He said he’s instituted a new philosophy for pay days.
“Leave it all out there,” he said. “Just do what I can to just say, I’ve got 18 holes, not worried about the next tournament, not worried about the season, just worry about tomorrow, what’s in front of me, one shot at a time, and see how it plays out. But definitely go out there and try and win this thing.”
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Hideki Matsuyama, Collin Morikawa separate from field at The Sentry
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