DUBLIN, Ohio – As Hideki Matsuyama got ready to begin his second round in the Workday Charity Open, he trailed leader Collin Morikawa by eight shots.
Matsuyama didn’t know.
Then just before he was set to tee off at Muirfield Village Golf Club, the second of two 75-minute storm delays sent him scurrying for cover.
Matsuyama wasn’t bothered a bit.
Finally, after play resumed and he started inching up the leaderboard, high winds descended on Jack Nicklaus’s superb layout.
Matsuyama just went about his business.
“I just go out and do my thing and hopefully shoot low for me and then see where I’m at at the end of the day,” Matsuyama said.
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Well, at the end of the stormy Friday, he stood four shots behind Morikawa through 36 holes after signing for a bogey-free, 4-under-par 68 to move to 9 under. While he wasn’t outwardly happy with the round – he rarely shows any emotion and is a man of few words – he did hit 12 of 14 fairways in regulation and 17 of 18 greens in regulation.
“I was happy that we were able to finish today,” he said. “That was definitely a good thing that we were able to finish. The bad thing, everything other than my score, I can say it wasn’t too good. All in all, it was good, though.”
It helps that he likes the course. He won the Memorial here in 2014 in a playoff with Kevin Na. He also tied for fifth in 2015 and was sixth in 2019. Just don’t ask him to explain his affinity for the track.
“I don’t know why I like this course so much, but I do,” Matsuyama said.
So he’s in a good place to end a victory drought on the PGA Tour. Matsuyama’s most recent of five Tour wins – he has 14 worldwide victories – came in the 2017 World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational. The triumph moved him to No. 3 in the world but he’s fallen to No. 23.
“I think my ball-striking is getting there,” he said. “Now it’s just the putting that I need to work on, so hopefully that’ll get better.”
Heading into the weekend, Matsuyama said he doesn’t know what to expect – with the course or his putter or the weather. Whatever he’ll face, he’ll just put his head down and quietly do his best.
“I go out there and get adjusted,” he said. “We’ll see if they make (the course) any faster this weekend, but all in all, so far I feel comfortable.”
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