Hideki Matsuyama shoots final round of 62 to win by three
31-year-old Matsuyama produced a compelling final round at Riviera Country Club to secure his first PGA Tour victory in 25 months. It was his ninth win on tour, making him Asia’s most prolific PGA Tour winner, surpassing South Korea’s KJ Choi who has eight.
To put the Japanese sensation’s win into perspective, he is the first player to enter the final round of a Tour event trailing by six strokes or more and go on to win by at least three strokes since Bubba Watson at the 2018 Travelers Championship – who completed the same feat (trailed by six, won by three).
The 2021 Masters Champ has struggled with his game of late. His career has revolved around elite ball striking but he struggles on the greens with the short stick. But, in the last year, he has been inconsistent in all facets of the game. In fact, this past week was his first top ten since a solo fifth at the 2023 Players Championship, almost 12 months ago.
Embed from Getty ImagesHe hasn’t really been in contention at all, and even at The Players, Scottie Scheffler ran away with it and won by five – beating Hideki by eight. He showed glimpses of form in the majors, with top 20 finishes in The Open Championship and The Masters.
But he failed to string together a run of form with multiple finishes near the top of leaderboards. And even on Sunday, he came out of nowhere to snatch victory after starting the day six behind Cantlay.
The overnight leader faltered with a 1-over par 72 to finish four back in T4 in what was a disappointing day when it mattered most. Matsuyama’s iron play was the standout of his masterful 62, coming in with 30 on the back nine, with nine total birdies and no bogeys.
He hit his approach shots on 15 and 16 to a combined 15 inches (nine inches and six inches respectively). Also, astoundingly, he had four birdie looks from inside 18 inches through 16 holes.
None of the leaders took the tournament by the scruff of the neck, and as Luke List and Will Zalatoris began to waver, Matsuyama grasped full control with his back nine charge, and no one else was up for the task.
Unsavoury ending to the week for Woods
It was a week to forget for Tiger Woods after he withdrew just six holes into his second round. He was two over par for the tournament, with The Genesis Invitational being his host event.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe Californian later explained that he had flu-like symptoms, hence his withdrawal, but has since insisted that he is doing much better. It was a sad ending to the week that began with Woods revealing his new clothing line ‘Sun Day Red’. It was the 15-time major champion’s first professional PGA Tour event since last year’s Masters.
Woods made five birdies in Round One en route to a 72, showing signs of his prime with birdies on the fourth and sixth – both par-3s. But he was held down by six bogeys, all of which came on par-fours.
The question now is when will Woods return? The most likely scenario is that he won’t play now until Augusta in April, as he will want to ensure that he is at maximum fitness for the event that he has won five times. But he continues to battle his health in one way or another since his car accident in 2021 which changed his physical well-being forever.
Xander and Patrick’s win drought continues
Good friends Xander Schauffele and Patrick Cantlay both put on a poor display in the final round as they fell out of contention Sunday. Cantlay held the solo lead after 18, 36 and 54 holes but was unable to go wire-to-wire as he shot a lacklustre 72 in the final round to finish tied for fourth. “Patty Ice”, as he is nicknamed, failed to improve upon his 36-hole score after storming out to an early advantage.
He led by five Friday evening but was incapable of closing the door as the chasing pack hunted him down successfully. Schauffele was slightly slower out the blocks with rounds of 66 and 65 on Friday and Saturday, transcending him into contention. Then, despite making eight pars and a bogey on the first nine, he birdied the tenth before making an eagle on the par-five 11th to put himself right amongst it.
But he then made three untimely bogeys on the bounce to shoot himself in both feet and leave himself with too much to do in the closing holes.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe pair are both on a winless run at the moment that dates back to the end of 2022. Both are considered more than capable of winning a Major Championship yet it has not happened for them so far.
The data backs up that they are two of the best current players who haven’t won a major, up there with the likes of Tony Finau and Rickie Fowler. Sunday was another example to add to the case study of Xander and Pat not being able to get it done on the biggest of stages.
Scottie’s woeful putting persists
Scottie Scheffler’s struggles on the greens have been an ongoing issue for some time now. It started off as a slight blip, but he is losing strokes each time he tees it up.
He has been on a stretch of one of the best ball-striking displays in the history of the game, but his putter is the only thing stopping him from winning almost every tournament.
At first, Scheffler was relatively nonchalant, and insisted that the putts were just not going in. But it has got to a stage now where he has neared boiling point, and begun to let his anger show. He has seemingly tried everything to rectify the issue but nothing appears to be working.
Embed from Getty ImagesThe World Number One is the best from tee to green. He leads the Tour in Strokes Gained: Off-the-tee, Approach and Tee-to-green. However, despite hitting it close on most holes, barely any of them drop.
At the Genesis, he was 51st in the field in SG: Putting out of the 51 players that made the cut. But, again, he was 1st in SG: Tee-to-green which must be unbelievably frustrating for him. Even if he just had a middling putting week, he would have been near the top of the leaderboard.
And it is the same story every week for him. Last summer, Scheffler said that “putting is such a weird thing. Sometimes when you feel good you feel like you’re never going to miss, and then sometimes when you feel terrible you feel like you’re never going to make.” Scottie is ostensibly on that barren run, but if it ends, watch out!
Pacific Palisades lacked juice without a certain past champ
Riviera Country Club is many people’s favourite course on the PGA Tour schedule. The course enhances the enjoyment of the tournament because of the intriguing architecture. Except there was some consensus this week that it didn’t live up to the billing that it has done in previous years.
The course hasn’t changed, but the personnel have. Not to discredit Matsuyama’s win; the tournament still upheld an entertainment value for sure, but the absence of Jon Rahm, Cameron Smith, and Dustin Johnson was all felt by those there in person and watching on TV.
Jon Rahm’s move to LIV two months ago only accentuated the already visible divide in Men’s Professional golf. It saddens the fans that they cannot see the best players play against each other on a weekly basis.
Embed from Getty ImagesThey have to wait till the Majors to see them all come back together. Rahm won the Genesis last year in a thrilling final-round showdown with Max Homa. The Spaniard’s absence this past week truly highlighted how LIV has created a fractioned ecosystem in golf.
Whilst there is no easy solution to bring everyone back together as one, I think the biggest of golf enthusiasts are praying for the day that we can see the World’s best compete on a regular basis again.
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