Justin Thomas reveals 'not enjoying' low round wins like Hideki Matsuyama’s The Sentry triumph

Justin Thomas recently revealed that he didn't enjoy low-round wins like Hideki Matsuyama’s The Sentry triumph. The 2025 season opener concluded on Sunday, January 5 at the Plantation Course at Kapalua.

Hideki Matsuyama won the tournament with a score of 35-under 257 by a margin of three strokes over Collin Morikawa. He scored 65, 65, 62 and 65 in the four rounds of the tournament.

Meanwhile, Justin Thomas tied for 26th with a score of 19 under. He took to Instagram to share pictures from the tournament and congratulated Matsuyama:

"Me trying to figure out what I need to shoot each round to match -35 for next year @thesentry… There’s no place like @golfatkapalua @troon. The course was in amazing condition and enjoyable as always. Was a shame we didn’t get much wind besides Thursday to have the course play to its true self!"

"Congrats to @hideki.matsuyama_official on a record setting week. Looking forward to getting back to work and get ready for @theamexgolf"

In the aforementioned post by Thomas, one of the fans asked him in the comments if he enjoyed golf as much when low scores were involved. In response, Thomas wrote:

"generally no, but a course like kapalua is similar to say links courses in Scotland Ireland etc where they're meant to be played in wind and firmer. So when soft and no wind, they’re very easy for us. It’s also not terrible every once in a while but it’s a tough week to stay patient!"

With his win, Hideki Matsuyama surpassed Cameron Smith's winning score of 34-under, which the latter achieved at the 2022 edition of The Sentry.

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Justin Thomas had 17 wins in his professional career. His lowest-scoring win came at the 2017 Sony Open in Hawaii, where he finished with a score of 27-under and won by seven strokes over Justin Rose.

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Justin Thomas names Xander Schauffele's PGA Championship as the "coolest win"

Justin Thomas had a relaxed 2024 season. In the 2022-23 season, he finished 78th in the FedExCup Fall standings and therefore, couldn't compete in signature events as only the top 50 in the previous season’s FedExCup standings qualify.

Further, he also had an easy FedExCup Fall schedule because Justin Thomas and his wife welcomed their first child and daughter, Molly Grace Thomas in November. In a recent press conference, a journalist asked the PGA Tour player what he thought was the "coolest win" last year. He said (via ASAP Sports):

"Yeah, that's kind of hard to think of. I was trying to think of a lot of tournaments. I mean, as a friend of Xander's it was cool to see him to win the PGA, just for, I think, because obviously it was very suspenseful and a great tournament, but he's been, I mean, he's there, it seems like, every major."

Further praising Schauffele, Thomas said:

"And like I said, he has a chance to win it seems like every major."

Xander Schauffele won the PGA Championship and the Open Championship. He also finished eighth at the Masters and tied for seventh at the 2024 US Open. Meanwhile, Thomas, who competed in 20 PGA Tour tournaments, made 16 cuts, with six top-10 and 10 top-25 finishes.