Collin Morikawa (-8) has signed a 65 on the first day of the The Sentry, the first tournament of the year and the 2024 season, a record that has taken him to the top of the table, waiting for what happens at the definitive close of the day, along with Camilo Villegas (-8), who was starring in a real nonsense for the second nine holes of the Plantation Course at Kapalua (Maui, Hawaii), stretch in which he signed seven birdies, a bogey and a par.
Villegas had already shown to be one of the most in-form players in the world during the last weeks of 2023, with that second place in the World Wide Technology and especially with his victory in the Butterfield Bermuda, autumn tournaments of the PGA Tour, so to some extent this performance is not too surprising.
And it’s not that Morikawa’s 65 is especially astonishing, precisely in this tournament and on this course, where he has always stood out in one way or another since his debut. In fact, this Thursday’s record brings his average strokes in Kapalua, in the 17 competition rounds he has already played, to an outstanding record of 67.88, on a par 73, let’s not forget.
Morikawa, moreover, could well have closed a better round after hunting up to 17 greens in regulation. Only on hole 6 did he suffer slightly, sinking a putt of just over a meter to save par, while leaving very good birdie options on the way. Last year he started in a similar way, even better (first round of 64 strokes), and he stood on Sunday as the main favourite and outstanding leader, with six strokes advantage over his immediate pursuers, but fell to the second final place, victim of his mistakes (poor round of 72) and the hurricane Rahm, who had come out seven strokes from the Californian and made a comeback with a round of 63. We’ll see how he does this time, but for now he confirms the best expectations.
As has also done Xander Schauffele (-7), another of the usual highlights in this first week of play in Hawaiian lands, who precisely accompanied Morikawa in the first match of the day and who has signed an excellent card of 66 strokes. Both have certainly taken advantage of the best playing conditions, with hardly any wind, but not even on the Plantation course does anyone give away this type of cards, even if it may seem so. In The Sentry you have to go out at a gallop and keep your foot on the accelerator all week and they, like Villegas, have done so for now. Surely not everyone will be able to say the same at the end of the day.
