Monday, January 6th, 2024 Balls & Bogeys Golf News Edition

Hideki Matsuyama, behind a historical PGA Tour score, wins Sentry event

– by Nick Piastowski / GOLF

Per Nick: “Hideki Matsuyama, after ripping apart the Plantation Course at Kapalua through three rounds, was asked by a reporter what he felt was the best part of his game, and he murmured to the translator standing to his left. He’d said he wasn’t sure. Modest, as always. He wasn’t going to tout…”

B&B POV: The Plantation Course at Kapalua in Maui has long been regarded as a top 100 course in the US and a favorite by amateurs and tour pros alike. With that, the PGA TOUR may need to move on from Kapalua or make drastic changes to the set-up for the pros. The course is just too darn easy, especially when the wind lies down. The Sentry, which was won by Hideki yesterday, was a birdie fest. He bested the tour’s 72-hole scoring record while most in the field made a flock of birdies and little to no bogeys. Look for big changes in ’26.

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10 Tips to Enjoy Golf to the Fullest in 2025

– by Chris Lohman / Balls & Bogeys

Per Chris: First off, we want to wish you and your clubs a Happy New Year.

I’m writing this post on January 2nd as the sun is setting on the east coast (US). Which means for most around the world, we all have 363 days left in the year to play and celebrate the sport we all love — the beautiful, gentlemen’s game of golf. The pursuit of hitting a little white ball into a little white-rimmed hole in the ground in the fewest strokes possible.

On paper, golf is a simple game. (See above.) Yet, if you’re reading this post, you know as much as anyone the game is far from simple. Actually, it’s closer to maddeningly—even sadistically—complicated, but in a good way.

For example…

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TGL 101: What you need to know about Tiger Woods’ high-tech golf league

– by Dave Shedloski / Golf Digest

Per Dave: “After a one-year delay, arguably the greatest experiment in professional golf premieres Jan. 7 in Palm Beach Gardens, Fla. That experiment is TGL, an indoor team match-play golf league that meshes simulator, synthetic and authentic elements of the game…”

B&B POV: Tomorrow night on ESPN, Tiger and Rory’s TGL made-for-TV golf league kicks off. Will golf fans tune in, or heck, even buy tickets? Will it take a minute for the masses to wrap their minds around golf’s best players (minus Scottie and the LIV boys) hitting balls into a 5-story tall screen and pitching and putting on the most advanced indoor putting green that has more tech built into it than a Tesla Cybertruck?

Here’s our quick take: If Tiger attends and plays most matches, people will watch. If he’s unable to, for whatever health or schedule reasons, this experiment will only last one season, two tops. We hope TGL is entertaining just enough to draw in new fans to golf and keep us stalwarts engaged during the slower months of the professional golf TV calendar.

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WITB Winner’s Bag: Hideki Matsuyama, 2025 Sentry

– by Thomas Hamden / Balls & Bogeys

Per Thomas: World #6, Hideki Matsuyama, won the ’25 Sentry championship in record fashion. It was a huge win for Japan’s Ichiban (his 11th on tour) and for Srixon, his primary club sponsor. Coming off a big year last year and picking up a win in this season’s first tourney yesterday sets him up for a stellar ’25 campaign. Look out Augusta, Hideki has conquered you before.

Now, let’s dive into the gear he used to slice and dice the Plantation Course in Maui…

Hideki Matsuyama’s Golf Gear:

DRIVER: Srixon ZX5 MK II LS 9.5 degrees (Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8TX shaft)

FAIRWAY WOOD: TaylorMade Qi10 (Graphite Design Tour AD DI 9TX shaft), 15 degrees

IRONS: Srixon Z-Forged II 4-PW (True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts)

WEDGES: Cleveland 588 RTX 4 Forged 52-10, 56-08 and 60-08 degrees (True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts in 52 and 56, X100 in 60)

PUTTER: Scotty Cameron 009M Center Shaft Tour Prototype

BALL: Srixon Z-STAR XV (9th generation)

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PAYDAY! 2025 The Sentry Prize Money Payouts

– by Thomas Hamden / Balls & Bogeys

Per Thomas: The Sentry was the first of eight Signature events on the PGA TOUR this season. With no cut, everyone who teed it up in Maui lived like a king on a pseudo golfing vacation and flew home—or flew to O’ahu to tee it up in the Sony Open this week—with deep pockets full of newly earned US greenbacks.

The event featured a total purse of $20 million dollars. That’s a nice, fat number for the tour’s first tourney of the year. With a record-breaking score of 35 under for the week, Hideki earned every bit of his $3.6M pre-tax big fat winner’s check…

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FEATURED CURATED LESSON

‘LET IT BLOW! How to play better in the wind‘

Playing golf in breezy conditions is a challenge. Playing golf in windy conditions can be downright puzzling and frustrating. If you play golf regularly, you better get comfortable playing in both types of conditions.
Here are some tips to play better and have more fun in the wind.

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