Winner's Bag: Hideki Matsuyama's putter switch propels him to victory at The Sentry

There is always plenty of equipment news at The Sentry as players debut new gear for the new year. Hideki Matsuyama was among those with new clubs in the bag, using a brand-new Scotty Cameron prototype in his record-setting victory at The Sentry.

This was the first week that Matsuyama used the new center-shafted blade putter. He received it shortly after Christmas after seeing it someone else’s bag and liking the way it looked. Matsuyama ranked third in Strokes Gained: Putting en route to a three-shot win at The Sentry. His 35-under 257 total set a PGA TOUR record for low 72-hole score in relation to par.

“I used the putter for the first time here,” Matsuyama said in his winner’s press conference. “I'm not sure (why it worked well), but it went in.”

Matsuyama didn’t elaborate on who he first saw using the putter, saying it was "just somebody that nobody knows." The Sentry was his 11th win on TOUR and follows a successful 2024 where he won both a Signature Event (The Genesis Invitational) and FedExCup Playoffs event (FedEx St. Jude Championship), as well as the Olympic bronze.

“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,” said Matsuyama. It was one of four putters Matsuyama took to Maui, but it earned a spot in the bag come gametime.

It’s not the first time Matsuyama made a putter switch and went on to win – his win at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in August came after switching to a Scotty Cameron Craftsman Squareback Tour Prototype. Matsuyama made a bigger change this week in Maui, swapping to a center-shafted Scotty Cameron 009 M Tour Prototype.

After a less-than-stellar season on the greens in 2024, ranking 121st in Strokes Gained: Putting, Mastuayama ended The Sentry with 5.42 strokes gained on the greens. He made close to 400 feet worth of putts and one-putted 35 times, including a run of six in a row from Nos. 8-13 in the final round.

It’s not the first time Matsuyama has played a center-shafted putter, but it’s certainly been a while since he’s had one in the bag. Previously, the Japanese star has used a Scotty Cameron Kombi S mallet with a center shaft.

Along with the new putter, Matsuyama teed it up with a new Srixon Z-STAR XV9 golf ball. The ninth generation of Srixon's premiere ball has yet to be released.

Center-shafted putters have made a return on the PGA TOUR with companies looking to create zero-torque putters. L.A.B., Callaway and Bettinardi all released new face-balanced designs towards the end of 2024. Centering the shaft helps evenly balance the weight across the face and make alignment easier.

Grayson Murray (Sony Open in Hawaii) and Jhonattan Vegas (3M Open) both won in 2024 with a center-shafted L.A.B. Golf Link.1 putter, while Matthieu Pavon claimed his first victory on TOUR at the Farmers Insurance Open with a center-shafted Ping Cadence TR Tomcat. Taylor Pendrith, who made albatross in Sunday’s final round, won THE CJ CUP Byron Nelson last season with a center-shafted Odyssey Versa Jailbird 380 CS.

Although claiming victory this week in Hawaii to start the season, Matsuyama can be famously fickle with his putters. We will be watching to see how long this one lasts in the bag.

Check out Matsuyama’s full bag setup below:

Driver: Srixon ZX5 Mk II LS (9.5 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 9 TX

5-wood: Cobra King RadSpeed Tour (17.5 degrees @19)
Shaft: Graphite Design Tour AD DI 10 TX

Irons: Srixon Z-Forged II (4-9)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 (4-PW)

Wedges: Cleveland RTX 4 Forged Prototype (48, 52, 56)
Shafts: True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400

Putter: Scotty Cameron 009M Center Shaft Tour Prototype

Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV