It's amazing how much of a difference a week on the PGA Tour can make. Despite remaining in the Aloha State for the 2025 Sony Open, the players faced a far tougher test Thursday at Waialae Country Club than they did last week at the Plantation Course. In a round full of higher scores and frustrating moments, six men stormed to the top of the leaderboard, with Harry Hall, Adam Schenk, Denny McCarthy, Eric Cole, Tom Hoge and Paul Peterson all sharing the lead at 6 under through 18 holes.
Six players leading in the first round represents a tournament record set in 1980. Five of those names came from the morning wave, with Hoge the only player to shoot his 64 in the afternoon after meeting his target for 63 narrowly missed the finisher on the par-5. While the leaderboard is crowded at the top and longtime PGA Tour members like Schenk and McCarthy wait for their first victories, the day belonged to Peterson – a 36-year-old rookie making his first start.
“[I had] “I have the best nerves,” said Peterson. “I'm just ready to go.” I felt ready to go yesterday. I had a good range session on Tuesday, sent some TrackMan reports to my trainer and was just like, 'Can we go tomorrow?' Yeah, it was nice to feel like I was doing well and off to a good start.”
Peterson visited more than 40 countries and six continents to play on the PGA Tour, starting his career in the ideal way. After making birdie on his first hole as a card-carrying member, Peterson collected three straight three-pointers on the turn. The Sea Island native quickly reached 6 under and broke the metaphorical ceiling when he made another birdie on the par-4 12th. Peterson, the first man to reach 7 under on the day, came back down to earth in the final stretch and finished his round with a pair of bogeys and a birdie on the par-5 18th.
Still, the experienced rookie is exactly where he believes he belongs: on the PGA Tour and at the top of the leaderboard at the Sony Open.
The leaders
T1. Harry Hall, Adam Schenk, Denny McCarthy, Eric Cole, Paul Peterson, Tom Hoge (-6)
It's not often that the best putter in the world makes a change on the green, but that's exactly what McCarthy did before this week. After putting up one of the worst putting performances of his career at Kapalua, the 31-year-old called into the bullpen and put a new putter in the bag. The decision proved effective as McCarthy looked much more like his usual self on the dance floor, winning by just over three shots in Round 1.
“I really struggled with the greens last week. I’m finding it really difficult to read those greens last week,” McCarthy said. “For some reason I like my gamer putter on fast Bermuda greens, but I have trouble with it on slow Bermuda greens. These are a little slower again this week. I just had trouble looking down at my putter. It just hasn't felt right lately. I don't know what's going on, but things just haven't been looking good for me for the last few months of battling this.
“So after last week I had kind of decided that I wanted to change things up this week, just something different to watch, and I really liked the feeling. I tried a few different putters on the green and landed in this case, and it feels pretty good.
The competitors
T7. Henrik Norlander, Adam Hadwin, Ben Griffin, Patrick Fishburn, Sam Ryder, Ben Kohles (-5)
T13. Andrew Putnam, James Hahn, Webb Simpson, Brian Harman, Russell Henley, Nico Echavarria, JJ Spaun, Jackson Suber, Chan Kim, Nick Taylor, Sepp Straka, Zach Johnson, Brice Garnett (-4)
It's a party at 4 under with great champions like Harman, Johnson and Simpson and recent PGA Tour winners like Echavarria and Taylor. The man to watch is Henley, who has quietly become one of the best players in the world in 2024. Even though there has been a lack of winning potential in recent years, the 35-year-old has been a model of consistency, especially at this golf tournament.
Henley started the week with three top-15 finishes in his last four appearances, including a playoff loss to Hideki Matsuyama in 2022. Playing alongside Hidekion on Thursday, Henley displayed a calm demeanor as he faced a difficult Survived the early stages, made one birdie after another and shot 66.
How is Matsuyama doing?
After setting all sorts of scoring records in Kapalua last week, Matsuyama was a bit weak in his first round at Waialae. The 11-time PGA Tour winner swapped birdie for bogey early on his front nine and made one of the more bizarre birdies of his career on the par-5 ninth.
When Matsuyama hit his tee shot to the left, Matsuyama accidentally knocked his driver out of his hands as he followed through. He then approached his second shot with a few options and decided to thread the needle through the palm trees in front of him. Matsuyama narrowly avoided disaster, escaping No. 9 with a birdie. It was his last birdie until the final three holes, where he wrote circles on his scorecard on holes 16 and 18 to sign an opening rate of 67.
Updated odds and tips for the Sony Open 2025
- Tom Hoge: 11-1
- Harry Hall: 11-1
- Denny McCarthy: 11-1
- Hideki Matsuyama: 11-1
- Russell Henley: 14-1
- Eric Cole: 16-1
- Ben Griffin: 18-1
I like it when some of the Thursday afternoon people make the quick break and keep a good thing going Friday morning. Henley is the front runner, as the former tournament winner fought back after two early misses and played his way back into the game. Henley peppers fairways and greens in regular time, as does Lucas Glover. The former US Open champion was a bit sloppy in Round 1 but was still able to sign for a 67 and is at 80-1.
