Breakfast Ball #51: Hideki Hits New Record Highs

In This Week’s Newsletter:

Hideki Matsuyama Wins The Sentry with a Record-Breaking Score of 35-Under

Hideki Matsuyama kicked off 2025 in spectacular fashion, capturing The Sentry title with a record-breaking performance. His astonishing score of 35-under set a new benchmark for the lowest score relative to par in a 72-hole PGA Tour event, surpassing Cam Smith’s 34-under mark at the same tournament in 2022. The Kapalua Plantation Course, a 7,596-yard par-73 layout, is known for its wide fairways and rolling terrain that often produce low scores. Yet, Matsuyama’s dominant display deserves full credit—he outperformed the field by an impressive 18 strokes, delivering one of the most commanding wins in recent memory.

Matsuyama carded rounds of 65-65-62-65 to win by three over Collin Morikawa in second. Hideki began Sunday with a narrow one-shot lead over Collin Morikawa but quickly seized control by holing out for eagle from 107 yards on the 3rd hole, extending his advantage to three strokes—a lead he would never relinquish. Matsuyama also broke the record for number of birdies or better in a 72-hole tournament with 33 birdies and 2 eagles.

After two wins on tour in 2024 at The Genesis and the St. Jude Championship, Matsuyama will have ambitions to win a major in 2025. His best result at The Masters since his win in 2021 is T14, and he has only managed two top tens at majors since then, both in the US Open.

Taylor Pendrith produced the shot of the week with the first ever albatross at The Sentry. Unfortunately, the PGA Tour did not capture the shot properly. In fact, trying to watch this tournament was difficult at time due to the amount of ads. Not the best start to the season from a viewing perspective.

European Results:

• 🇧🇪 Thomas Detry was in the final group on Sunday with Matsuyama and Morikawa, but was unable to keep up with their low scoring and finished in T5

• 🇸🇪 Ludvig Åberg shot rounds of 65 and 64 over the weekend to finish in T5 for a strong start to his 2025 season

• 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 Harry Hall took full advantage of his debut in a PGA Tour signature event, ending the week in T8

• 🇪🇺 Bob MacIntyre, Aaron Rai, and Sepp Straka all finished in the top 20

My Personal Golfing Goals for 2025

The most requested newsletter addition from the end-of-year survey was updates on my personal golfing adventures and travels. While I won’t be sharing weekly updates (if only I played that much golf!), I’ll sprinkle in highlights throughout the year. To kick things off, I’ll give you a snapshot of where my game stands now and set some goals for the season ahead.

I’m far from a great golfer. In fact, the average handicap for those who keep one in the US is 14.2, so I am exactly average. After a decade away from the game, I returned in 2022 and have been chasing glimpses of my junior golfing form ever since. Starting 2023 with a 22 handicap, I’ve managed to shave off eight strokes over the past two years. In 2023, my main goal was to break 90 in a round, and last year I aimed to consistently average below 90. Now, it’s time to set my sights on a much tougher challenge—breaking 80. It won’t be easy, but that’s what makes the pursuit so rewarding.

Goal 1: Break 80 in a round

Goals aren’t fun if they are not difficult. Breaking 90 requires improvements in your short game and keeping the ball in play. Breaking 80 is a much taller task that requires consistent play both off the tee and in approach.

Goal 2: Play at least 3 of the top 100 public courses in the US

While the Philadelphia area has some of the top golf courses in the world (Merion and Pine Valley are within a 25 minute drive of where I live), they are all private courses that are exceptionally difficult to access. Even the top public courses in the US make it hard to secure a tee time, but some are surprisingly accessible. I have tentative plans in place to play 2 of the top 100, so I just have to find another.

Goal 3: Play 25 rounds of golf

This one may sound easy, but life is likely to get in the way of this goal in 2025. I logged 22 rounds in 2024, and improving this mark will be tough.

Goal 4: Finish the year with a handicap below 11

I have taken 4 strokes off my handicap the last two years, so what’s another year?

Goal 5: Play or practice 2 times per week

I’m confident that if I can achieve this, every other goal I have will naturally fall into place. Fortunately, a driving range recently reopened along my commute for the first time since the pandemic, making regular practice more accessible. Intentional range work is incredibly effective, but practice goes beyond swinging clubs—it also means sharpening my mental game and thoughtfully planning each round. For those looking to improve their own game, my top golf book recommendations so far are The Four Foundations of Golf by Jon Sherman and Your 15th Club by Bob Rotella. Both offer invaluable insights.

I would love to hear from you if you have any advice or similar goals for the year. Keep an eye out for an early update in a couple of months.

Evan’s Trivia Corner

The answer to last week’s question was Torrey Pines, where Jon Rahm picked up his first major championship victory.

While Scotland is known as the home of golf, it has only produced one major champion in the last 35 years. Who is it?

Hint: this major is known for one of the most incredible collapses in golf history on the final hole.

Come back next week for the answer!

Coming up on tour this week:

• 🌴 The PGA Tour stays in Hawaii for the Sony Open

• 🏆️ Continental Europe faces off against a UK and Ireland contingent in the Team Cup, an event run by the European Tour in Abu Dhabi

  • Francesco Molinari will captain Continental Europe and Justin Rose will captain the UK & Ireland team

  • Tommy Fleetwood and Tyrrell Hatton headline the UK&I team, while the Højgaard twins and Matthieu Pavon will represent Continental Europe

  • This is a Ryder Cup audition for many players including Aaron Rai, Rasmus Højgaard, Matt Wallace, and Niklas Nørgaard

If you have any feedback for the newsletter or would like to get in touch, I would love to hear from you! Email [email protected] or message us on Twitter/X at @BlueHorizonGolf. Thank you for reading!