As 58 players pack their bags and leave for Oahu and the next PGA Tour stop, the Sony Open, or return to the mainland, they must wonder what happened.
Shooting a Sunday final round 65 and finishing with a 35-under-par total over four rounds, a PGA Tour record, Hideki Matsuyama was better than advertised.
The 11th win for the former Masters champion was imposing, not because he won, but because he never gave Colin Morikawa, the runner-up, much hope but even less chance to catch the 32-year-old from Japan, who was in control throughout the last two rounds.
“He was matching me yesterday shot for shot, and I felt like I was playing lights out, right? Like, yes, you could leave some shots out there, but you shoot 11-under on any golf course, you're going to be happy, right?” Morikawa said of Matsuyama who he was paired with in the last two rounds “Today he just never let up. Then you get to the third hole and the guy holes it. I just knew I had to be on top of everything, and just kind of let a few slip on that front nine.”
Morikawa and Ludvig Aberg leave Maui not wondering what happened but thinking they had a chance, if not for mistakes or a slow start.
For runner-up Morikawa, the wins have not come as quickly as he had hoped, winning his last time at the ZOZO in October 2023.
While Morikawa was solid for most of Sunday’s final round, he missed opportunities. He made a mistake or two that made Matsuyama’s path to victory easier than it should have been.
“Just going through the shots I left out there, there was a good handful that I wish I could have back,” Morikawa said after his sixth top 10 and second runner-up finishes at the Plantation Course. “When you don't get it done you kind of, that's where your mind goes to.”
The two-time major winner had the fifth-best 72-hole score ever at The Sentry, but it came at the wrong time.
Yet, Morikawa also knows that while he didn’t get it done on Sunday, his game showed solid signs of a winning product.
“I know there is a lot of positives, and it's going to take me a few hours or a day to get over it,” Morikawa said. “It's just, how do you clean things up for four rounds. It's tough to win, and I've seen it over this kind of past year, and like I said, I love being in this position, this is a position you want to be in, I want to keep giving myself chances, I know they're going to come, just when Zozo happened you just know if you keep knocking at the door and, you know, we're going to go on a roll pretty soon, it's just hopefully sooner rather than later. “
Outside of the Matsuyama win, the other impressive week was by Swedish wunderkind Ludvig Aberg.
After a pedestrian opening rounds of 69-70, the 25-year-old shot 65-64 on the weekend and moved to T5.
“Both today and yesterday was a lot better than the first two rounds,” Aberg said after his second trip to the Plantation Course. “It was nice to hit some shots, and especially off the tee I was a little bit better over the weekend. The fairways are quite forgiving, and you need to make a lot of birdies, which I was able to do both today and yesterday, so it was nice weekend of golf.”
Eleven birdies and two eagles, both in the final round, supported Aberg’s comments after a solid weekend that will make Aberg wonder what could have been if he didn’t struggle in the first two rounds.
Matsuyama will island hop from Maui to Honolulu to try to win again at Sony, where he defeated Russell Henley in the 2022 playoffs.
“I have goals within myself, and I'm not going to say it right here,” Matsuyama said after his win. “But there are unfinished business that I have set for myself that I still am striving to get to.”
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Denmark's Thorbjorn Olesen and PGA Tour rookie Cristobal Del Solar of Chile each posted a 9-under-par 61 to share the first-round lead at the RBC Canadian Open on Thursday in Caledon, Ontario. Olesen and Del Solar took full advantage of TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley in the venue's PGA Tour debut. They own a one-shot lead over Cameron Champ; Jake Knapp is alone in fourth at 7-under 63. Shane Lowry of Ireland went out in 5-under 30 on his way to a round of 64. He is tied for fifth with Rasmus Hojgaard of Denmark and Trey Mullinax. The low Canadian for the day was Taylor Pendrith (65), who set the clubhouse lead in the morning wave before several players passed him by. Defending champion Robert MacIntyre of Scotland is among the several golfers knotted with him in eighth place at 5 under. Del Solar birdied 10 of his first 16 holes to pass Olesen for the outright lead and threaten a score of 59. However, he failed to get up and down from the bunker at the par-4 17th hole and took his only bogey of the day. He missed a 15-foot putt for birdie for the outright lead at No. 18. Del Solar's claim to fame is a round of 57 he shot on the Korn Ferry Tour in February 2024. It was the lowest round ever recorded in a PGA Tour-sanctioned tournament. Olesen, meanwhile, has eight wins on the DP World Tour but is seeking his first title in the United States. Two-time Canadian champion Rory McIlroy is in danger of missing the cut after shooting a 1-over 71, which he ended with consecutive bogeys at Nos. 8 and 9. The Northern Irishman is playing for the first time since a T47 finish at the PGA Championship.
The New York Yankees didn't come into the season with the strongest third base situation, and it only got worse over time. They converted traditional second baseman Jazz Chisholm Jr. to the hot corner after getting him at the Trade Deadline last season and installed a timeshare with him, DJ LeMahieu, Oswald Peraza, and Oswaldo Cabrera there in 2025. However, the latter player broke his ankle on May 12, and the Yankees released the now 37-year-old LeMahieu on July 10. Chisholm was primarily back at second at that point, so this left Peraza and Jorbit Vivas as their only true remaining third basemen. With Peraza hitting .147 and Vivas hitting .164, it was clear what the team's biggest need was. That's why it acquired veteran third baseman Ryan McMahon from the Colorado Rockies on Friday. New York manager Aaron Boone gave his thoughts about the 30-year-old before Friday's bout with the Philadelphia Phillies, via SNY. "I know there's real offensive potential there. I know he's had real offensive success, as well as some struggles there over the last calendar year or two," he said. "It seems like over the last month he's really started swinging the bat like he's capable of. He can impact the ball, he can control the strike zone, he's had some swing-and-misses that have probably hurt him a little bit." "But then he can really defend over there," he continued. "The handful of times that we've played against them that I watch him, you're like, 'That's what it should look like over there.' He moves really well and has that prototypical good third base thing." McMahon is slashing .217/.314/.403 with 16 homers and 35 RBI over 100 games this season. He also has a .978 fielding percentage and six errors. Right-handed pitcher Will Warren (6-5, 4.91 ERA) will start for the Yankees against Phillies right-hander Taijuan Walker (3-5, 3.75 ERA) on Friday.
The New York Mets are a half-game ahead of the Philadelphia Phillies for first place in the NL East, but their pitching staff is still injury-ravaged despite the recent returns of Sean Manaea and Frankie Montas. Brandon Waddell (hip), Dedniel Nuñez (elbow), Max Kranick (flexor), Paul Blackburn (shoulder), Tylor Megill (elbow), Griffin Canning (Achilles), Drew Smith (elbow), A.J. Minter (lat), Danny Young (elbow), and Christian Scott (elbow) are alll on the Mets' IL. The MLB Trade Deadline is July 31 at 6 p.m. EST, so the front office has one week to add healthy arms from around the league this season. ESPN's David Schoenfield predicted on Thursday that New York would trade for a Minnesota Twins reliever. "One guarantee of the trade deadline: The Mets will add to the bullpen, probably with more than one trade. Though the rotation still ranks fifth in ERA, that was built off a hot start," he wrote. "More importantly, the only Mets starter to complete six innings since June 7 has been David Peterson. As a result, manager Carlos Mendoza has run relievers Reed Garrett, Huascar Brazoban, Jose Butto and Ryne Stanek into the ground. The bullpen had a 2.78 ERA through May, but that figure is over 5.00 since the beginning of June (ranking near the bottom of the majors)." "The Twins have two high-profile relievers in [Jhoan] Duran and [Griffin] Jax, both of whom are under team control through 2027, so they'll be much more expensive than your usual short-term relievers if the Twins decide to trade one or both," he continued. "Duran would be harder to deal -- but bring more in return -- so we'll say Jax will go. Don't be fooled by his 4.09 ERA: He has 68 strikeouts and 12 walks in 44 innings with a 97-mph heater. He's an elite strikeout reliever, the type you want on the mound in October." The Mets are hot despite their injuries, as they're on a four-game winning streak and just swept the Los Angeles Angels. Next up is a road trip against the San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres. New York right-handed pitcher Clay Holmes (8-5, 3.48 ERA) will face Giants right-hander Logan Webb (9-7, 3.08 ERA) on Friday.
The reunion between quarterback Aaron Rodgers and wide receiver Davante Adams in 2024 was brief. After nearly two and a half years apart, the longtime Green Bay Packers duo attempted to rekindle their connection with the New York Jets. Adams worked his way to the Jets early in the 2024 season, dealt from the Las Vegas Raiders in exchange for a third-round pick in October. While the chemistry between them wasn't bad, the results spoke otherwise, as everything spiraled out of control in New York, ending in a 5-12 season. The star receiver was released by the club in March before joining the Los Angeles Rams in free agency, while Rodgers was handed the same fate, signing with the Pittsburgh Steelers in June. Adams was asked about Rodgers being his opponent again during an appearance on the "Up and Adams" show on Friday. “Aaron’s got to be happy. I mean, I’m happy for him. We both, we got to try it again together and gave that another shot. That stone wasn’t left unturned; we did what we had to do, and it just obviously didn’t work. Just like for me, I wish him nothing but luck, and I know he’s going to go out there and ball out too,” Adams said. Adams wound up amassing 67 receptions, 854 yards and seven touchdowns in 11 games as a Jet with Rodgers, per ESPN stats, averaging 77.6 yards per game, much higher than his previous season in Las Vegas. Two of the legendary quarterback's four NFL MVPs were won with Adams being his top target from 2020 to 2022. At their best, they were borderline unstoppable, though postseason shortcomings haunted them in the end. There's no doubting how good a QB-WR duo these two were in Green Bay; however, all that occurred in New York made it obvious that a change was necessary. The Rodgers-led Steelers and Adams and the Rams will have plenty of eyeballs on them in 2025. Unfortunately for fans, the two teams don't play each other this season... unless they find a way to meet up in San Francisco for Super Bowl LX in February.