Hideki Matsuyama is notorious for trying new putters but almost never putting a new one in play. Now it appears that the former Masters champion has cracked the code. Bring a lot of putters with him, choose a new one and walk off with a win.

Matsuyama won the season-opening Sentry tournament using a new Scotty Cameron by Titleist 009 center-shafted tour prototype. The move came after he came to Maui with four putters and decided on that one. The process and result is eerily similar to his win last fall at the FedEx St. Jude Championship where he arrived in Memphis with six putters and opted to switch to a Scotty Cameron by Titleist Craftsman Squareback tour prototype blade. He then putted his way to the first leg of the PGA Tour playoffs, notching a one-stroke victory at TPC Southwind.

Matsuyama was typically non-expansive about the switch, but the results were clear. Thirty-three birdies and two eagles against just a pair of bogeys for the week. He ranked third in strokes gained/putting, second in putts per green in regulation and second in feet of putts made on his way to setting the PGA Tour scoring mark in relation to par at 35 under.

Never highly regarded for his putting, Matsuyama changed that narrative—at least for this week—as he made seven putts over 20 feet on the week, including trio over 30 feet.

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This model combines the large, confidence-inspiring shape of the standard ZX5 with the low-forward center of gravity seen on the ZX7. An eight-gram weight positioned forward in the sole helps to make this the lowest spinning of the three models. Its neutral ball flight and mid- to high-launch angle caters to more aggressive swingers looking to max out distance. With the weight forward in the sole, expect a little less forgiveness on off-center hits compared to the standard ZX5 but somewhat more than the ZX7.

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Matsuyama had other clubs that worked, too, including his Srixon ZX5 LS Mk II driver with a Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX shaft. The club worked well enough to put Matsuyama on the plus side of strokes gained/off the tee and while his average driving distance only ranked 21st in the field, he did unleash one an impressive 414 yards at the last.

Impressive. That’s a good word to sum up Matsuyama’s week in Hawaii.

The clubs Hideki Matsuyama had in the bag at the 2025 Sentry

Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV Arrow

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

3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10, 15 degrees

5-wood: Cobra King Radspeed Tour, 17.5 degrees

Irons (4-9): Srixon Z Forged II

Wedges: Cleveland RTX4 Forged prototype (48, 52, 56, 60 degrees)

Putter: Scotty Cameron by Titleist 009 CS tour prototype

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com