KAPALUA, Hawaii – Collin Morikawa has already won two majors and played in the opening session of the Ryder Cup twice. His first tee shot Thursday at Kapalua felt as special as any other moment.
Long before Sahith Theegala birdied his 10th for a 9-under 64 to lead The Sentry, the PGA Tour began a new year with a ceremony on the first tee. There was a Hawaiian blessing and chants focused on renewal and regrowth, with an emphasis on the deadly Lahaina fires.
Morikawa has a deep connection to Maui and hits the first tee shot.
Where it went—straight and long enough to roll through the fairway into the rough—was of little importance to him.
“As special as it’s ever going to be,” Morikawa said of the first of his 65 shots Thursday. “I can talk about the last rounds, the last shots, the first tee, the last group and the majors, but that was the greatest honor I could have had. Not because it was the first tournament of the year, but because it was out here on Maui, everything this week means to me.
“It just means so much more.”
He played like it meant more, with six birdies and an eagle when he carved a 3-wood to the elevated green for eagle on the par-5 ninth.
On a beautiful day with surprisingly little wind and typically gorgeous views, Morikawa had plenty of company. His 65 was the best of the day until Theegala warmed up and started the back nine with six straight birdies. The par-5 18th saw a back-and-forth for a final birdie.
That gave him a lead over Morikawa, FedExCup champion Viktor Hovland, Sungjae Im, Camilo Villegas and Jason Day.
Theegala made his Kapalua debut last year by reaching the Tour Championship as a rookie. Now the field at The Sentry – for years limited to last year's PGA Tour winners – has been expanded to include winners and the top 50 in the FedExCup. Thanks to his win in Napa, California, in September, Theegala would definitely be there.
The 59-player field is Kapalua's largest ever, and they all had their way on a forgiving Plantation course with no great defense and just a tropical breeze.
Theegala still had work to do – an 18-foot putt on No. 10, a tee shot to 2 feet on the par-3 11th and then his favorite, a 10-foot birdie on a 12th hole with so much slope and grain that he wasn't sure how the putt would break.
“I just aimed it right in the middle and tried to hit it hard,” he said. “That calmed me down a little more because I knew that 13, 14, 15 were also very easy to achieve.”
And he got it, capping his streak with a two-putt birdie from 20 feet on the par-5 15th.
It felt like that for everyone.
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Eighteen players had a score of 67 or lower, and that was to be expected. The Plantation course's greatest defense is the wind, and it was in the wind for most of the day. Even bad starts worked out well. Justin Rose went out at 40 and had six birdies on the back to salvage a 71.
Jordan Spieth hit the first foul ball of the year and pushed his tee shot right into the tall native grass on the third hole, resulting in double bogey. He responded with nine birdies and was part of a group that included Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler, the two-time PGA Tour Player of the Year and No. 1 player in the world, with a 7-under 66.
“I didn’t have to fight too hard for pars,” Scheffler said.
The wind came later in the afternoon, but there were so many players registered.
“You’re playing golf on the edge of a volcano. It’s pretty different than most of the golf we play,” Scheffler said. “It’s definitely a fun way to start the year, a fun golf course to play. Even if the results are low, I still feel like you are very challenged because you have to keep the accelerator pressed all the time.”
That's exactly what Morikawa tried to do in the opening group, making his strongest move along the back nine with two par 5s and two short par 4s.
But it was the beginning that meant so much.
His grandparents were born in Lahaina and long ago owned Morikawa Restaurant, which closed about two decades before he was born. But the 26-year-old Californian came to Lahaina as a boy during a family vacation.
He warmed up during the ceremony but still heard the drums and chants. It was cool on a mild day on the west end of Maui.
“It got a little emotional,” he said. “I think just because I know what everyone has been through, you hear it from these families and meet everyone here on the island who knows someone or has been affected first hand. Maui is small. Hawaii is very, very small. People know everyone. I just got emotional.
“It was an honor to be able to hit the first tee and yes, it’s a great way to start the new year.”