KAPALUA, Hawaii — Tom Hoge grew up in North Dakota and found the perfect atmosphere for Kapalua on Thursday, keeping expectations low and riding the momentum of good golf to shoot a 9-under 64 to take a commanding lead. ‘a shot at The Sentry. during the PGA Tour season opener.
Hideki Matsuyama tried a new putter – he saw someone else using it and thought it would work for him – and he made a birdie-eagle-birdie stretch on the back nine that took him to a 65 and was a back with muscle- Will Zalatoris.
That was the theme of the first day of a new PGA Tour season with much more at stake than before. Most of the 60 players are emerging from a short winter nap with the holidays, looking to shake off some rust on a Plantation course with some of the widest and most generous fairways they’ll see all year.
Xander Schauffele, a two-time major winner and top-ranked player in the field, was among the few to show up this weekend at Kapalua. He twice had an unsuccessful search for his golf ball that led to a bogey on the back nine that led to a 72.
Hoge, among 29 players who went to Kapalua without winning — the field includes the top 50 in last year’s FedExCup — and wasn’t sure what to expect.
The weather didn’t allow for much training in Fort Worth, Texas, where he now lives. Nor was the birth of her first child, a boy named Thomas Bennett, born a few weeks ago.
“I played all the way through Mexico the first week of November and then I was just at home,” he said. “We had our first child at the beginning of December, so a sort of forced leave. I feel like with the schedule changes, last year there was a lot of golf between now and the Tour Championship. I felt like I was pretty exhausted at that point.
If the game was rusty, his putter was not. He made a 15-foot birdie out of the gate, saved par with a 6-foot putt on the next hole, made an 18-foot birdie at the third and made a risky shot on the fourth hole.
“It kind of frees you. And you’re in Maui, with no expectations, just drop it and see what you can do,” he said.
Zalatoris arrived much bigger. He took two months off after failing to reach the Tour Championship and used the time to build muscle, which he hopes will give him a little more longevity following back problems that forced us to miss too much time.
He missed the final four months of 2022 and then the remainder of 2023 due to back surgery when he had to withdraw from the Masters.
Will Zalatoris opens with 65 at Kapalua: ‘Best I’ve felt’ after off-season weight gain
After adding 20 pounds to his stiff frame, Will Zalatoris said he feels better than ever. His game looks like it too.
“I don’t even feel like I’ve had surgery now,” Zalatoris said. “The ceiling is something I wanted to continue to raise, because I knew if I had to weigh 160 pounds and try to get 300 yards here, that’s not a recipe for longevity.”
He left the BMW Championship in August at 163 pounds. He weighed 182 pounds when he boarded a plane from Dallas to Maui.
“Hopefully this year my best golf will come at the end of the season,” he said.
The first day of the new season wasn’t bad. Zalatoris played bogey-free, although a three-putt on the par-5 fifth — the Plantation’s easiest hole — looked like a bogey.
Collin Morikawa, Cameron Young and Corey Conners were 66, while Tony Finau was in the group at 67 in his first tournament in four months due to left knee surgery.
Matsuyama, who was playing in Japan this fall, fell back with a three-putt bogey from 15 feet on the 13th hole. He followed with a pedestrian tee shot on the next hole, but hit a wedge to 10 feet for birdie and was on his way. He hit a 5-foot wood for eagle on the 15th, a 4-foot wedge for birdie the next and had a chance to tie Hoge until he didn’t catch all his woods at 3 during the descent on the 18th and failed to obtain. up and down for birdie.
The new season begins without Scottie Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player who punctured his hand on broken glass while cooking Christmas dinner.
It’s also the start of a new structure when only the top 100 players in the FedExCup – down from 125 players – keep their full cards for next year.
