Yes, we are only one round into the 2025 men’s pro golfing season but Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama has provided us with the ‘Post Round Interview of the Year’.
The Japanese golfer kick-started his new season with an impressive eight-under 65 considering he entered The Sentry under a fitness cloud due to a back injury concern.
However, it clearly didn’t bother the now 32-year-old 2021 Augusta National champion who posted a 15th hole eagle and also seven birdies in his round to end the day sharing second place with American Will Zalatoris, and just a shot adrift of American Tom Hoge who signed for a sizzling nine-under 64.
Hideki Matsuyama – Image Wikipedia
Matsuyama’s round equalled his best score in 29 rounds at The Sentry (R2/2022) and marks the first time in eight career starts at The Sentry to sit inside the top-5 on the leaderboard after the first round.
Though it was talk of a new putter and a bogey on the 13th that provided one the strangest interviews with the media for some time.
Hereunder, and thanks to ASAP Sports, is the full interview with the current World No. 6.
Q. Why did you change putters?
HIDEKI MATSUYAMA: I don’t know. (Laughing).
Q. How often do you change putters?
HIDEKI MATSUYAMA: I saw somebody else using it and I thought, Oh, this looks good, so I had them make one, and I’m using it this week.
Q. Can you talk about the back nine, that stretch of 3, 3, 3?
HIDEKI MATSUYAMA: I bogeyed the hole earlier, and then I had a bad kind of a tee shot, but I was able to birdie that hole, and so just kind of kept going, so that was a good stretch.
Q. What club to the par-5?
HIDEKI MATSUYAMA: 5-iron.
Q. Do you get angry when you 3-putt?
HIDEKI MATSUYAMA: You know, I’m going to have some 3-putts throughout the year, so don’t worry about it.
Q. Do you play good when you’re mad? Do you find you play better when you make a mistake, whether it’s a 3-putt or a bad shot?
HIDEKI MATSUYAMA: It could go either way. You get mad and it goes the other way, and sometimes you can turn it around, so it just depends.
Q. Are you mad now?
HIDEKI MATSUYAMA: No.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports
