Tag: Hideki Matsuyama

Carlos Ortiz earns first PGA Tour title, takes trophy at Vivint Houston Open

Carlos Ortiz held off Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama to win the Vivint Houston Open at Memorial Park on Sunday.

Consider 118 a lucky number for Carlos Ortiz.

The veteran from Guadalajara, Mexico, needed that many PGA Tour events to finally capture his first title, but it was a special one —  his 65 on Sunday was enough to edge Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama and capture the Vivint Houston Open.

Ortiz, who played collegiately at North Texas, had been showing signs he was ready to break through, making three cuts in five starts this season, but hadn’t cracked the top 30 in any event. He came into Houston ranked 160th in the Official World Golf Ranking (and 136 in the Golfweek/Sagarin Rankings), but looked surprisingly comfortable on the front as he fired a bogey-free 32 to pull ahead. He shot a 65 on Sunday to finish the tournament at 13 under.

Meanwhile, Johnson’s goal was to get his game in top gear with the Masters on the near horizon. Consider Johnson’s motor up and running.

The World No. 1 missed a few chances down the stretch, but he proved he’s ready to contend for his first green jacket next week. Johnson shot a 65, although he did miss chances on Nos. 16 and 17 that would have pulled him event with Ortiz.

Hideki Matsuyama didn’t look like he’d be a threat to break a long drought after posting two rounds of even-par to open the tournament, but after a 66 on Saturday, he was aggressive all Sunday in pulling into a tie for the lead.

Matsuyama, who last won at the 2017 WGC-FedEx St. Jude, barely missed a putt on No. 18 that would have forced the issue, but he still finished with a course-record 63 (one of three) to finish at 11 under.

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The tournament marked the first time the PGA Tour has played at Memorial Park since 1963. Architect Tom Doak was the front man for a  $34 million renovation funded through a foundation headed by Houston Astros’ owner Jim Crane.

Brooks Koepka, who had helped with the renovation of the Memorial Park, made an early run with a 30 on the front, but he cooled just a tad on the back and posted a second straight 65 to finish the tournament at 8 under.

Meanwhile, 54-hold leader Sam Burns saw his hopes of capturing his first PGA Tour title dashed early. Burns opened the day with a bogey, then added a double on No. 4 to drop off the top of the leaderboard.

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Hideki Matsuyama quietly adapts, moves into contention at Workday

Hideki Matsuyama is in contention at the PGA Tour’s Workday Charity Open headed into the weekend.

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.

Updates | By the rankings | Tee times, TV | Photos | Leaderboard

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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Rocket Mortgage Classic third round hits and misses

What we liked and didn’t like from the third round action at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit.

The wind kicked up just a touch, but the scores still kept falling on Saturday during the third round of the PGA Tour’s Rocket Mortgage Classic at Detroit Golf Club.

No player put us on a 59 watch, but 21-year-old rising star Matthew Wolff gave everyone a lesson with his second straight round of 8-under 64, putting him at 19-under and atop the leaderboard entering Sunday’s final round. That gave the former Oklahoma State star a three-shot lead over Bryson DeChambeau and Ryan Armour.

Wolff wasn’t the only player to make some noise on Saturday. Here are the hits and misses from the third round.

Leaderboard | Live blog | Photos

Hit: Wesley Bryan

He put himself into contention with an early 65 that got him to 13 under. If you don’t know who Bryan is, you should. The 2017 RBC Heritage winner is the kind of fun player golf needs. He’s capable of epic smack talk during a round and he and his brother, George, have an awesome YouTube channel, Bryan Bros, where they perform crazy trick shots. It’ll be hard not to root for him.

Hit: Bryson DeChambeau

Clearly he was hurt by me assigning him a fake “miss” after the second round in order to spur him on. DeChambeau birdied two of his first four holes then went cold until he birdied the 13th and 14th. He almost drove the 399-yard green on the 13th. His second straight 67 wasn’t bad. At 16 under, he’s easily within striking distance of Wolff. But he could be running away with this thing. How a guy with this kind of power and talent doesn’t go full Tiger Woods on the field every week completely puzzles me.

Miss: Webb Simpson

The world’s sixth-ranked player shot 64 in the second round and was in position to take control of the tournament with a solid round on Saturday. But he struggled to a 1 under 71 on a day when 34 players were 3 under or better, even if there was a little wind. Simpson dropped out of a tie for the lead and is six shots back at 13 under.

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Hit: Ryan Armour

Great shooting by the — ugh — Ohio State graduate, who posted a 67 to put himself in prime position, tied with DeChambeau. Nice job by the … the … Buck … eye. Ugh. Hard to get that out. Wonder if he’ll refer to Detroit Golf Club as “that course up north” if he wins.

Miss: Brian Stuard

Brutal. The former Oakland University golfer from Jackson, Michigan started the round in great position at 9 under, just three shots back. He shot 73 and eliminated any chance of winning. His driver betrayed him. He made three bogeys and a killer double bogey on the par-5 10th hole, when he hit out of one fairway bunker into another. Golf is just mean sometimes.

Hit: Hideki Matsuyama

The world No. 23 had the move of the day when he shot up 42 spots into a tie for 13th when he fired a 65 to reach 12 under. Like world No. 17 Tony Finau, who shot 66, Matsuyama played early and took advantage of the smoother greens.

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Several big names will miss the cut at RBC Heritage

Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed and Hideki Matsuyama are among the top-ranked players who aren’t making the cut at the RBC Heritage.

What do Rickie Fowler, Patrick Reed, and Hideki Matsuyama all have in common? Well, in addition to being among the top 30 in the world, they all have the weekend off at the RBC Heritage.

Given that the field is stacked this week in Hilton Head, South Carolina, it goes to figure that some of the star power would exit stage left at the 36-hole cut. It took 4-under 138 to be among the 75 players to make it to the weekend.

Meanwhile, Collin Morikawa rallied with birdies at Nos. 14 and 15 to extend the Tour’s longest active cut streak to 23 events.

Fowler (67-72) missed his second straight cut for the first time since 2016, while Matsuyama (74-70), who tied the TPC Sawgrass Stadium Course record the last time he played before the season was suspended, couldn’t pick up the magic where he left off. They weren’t alone.

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World No. 19 Louis Ooshuizen (73-73), reigning British Open champion Shane Lowry (74-67), two-time major winner Zach Johnson (69-74) and former World No. 1 Jason Day (71-69) also were sent packing.

Perennial contenders at the RBC Heritage Kevin Kisner, a South Carolina native who lost a playoff to Jim Furyk in 2015, and Luke Donald, a four-time runner-up of the event, have a rare weekend off. Even golf’s iron man fell victim to a Pete Dye layout that has stood the test of time as FedEx Cup leader Sungjae Im (73-70) failed to earn a Saturday tee time.

Past champions Aaron Baddeley, Jim Furyk, Brian Gay, Graeme McDowell, Brandt Snedeker and five-time champion Davis Love III failed to find the good vibes of past glory this time at the famed seaside links.

A week ago, Xander Schauffele was a vicious lip out away from joining the playoff for the Charles Schwab Championship. On Friday, he birded the ninth, his final hole, to make the cut on the number.

Luke List, who won last week’s Korn Ferry Challenge, shot 69-73, leading to his trunk-slamming departure.

Reigning U.S. Amateur champion Andy Ogletree (73-70), one of two amateurs in the field, missed the cut for the second straight week.

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The Players: Hideki Matsuyama leads by two after tying course record with 63

Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama rode a hot putter to become the ninth player to shoot 63 at The Players Championship.

PONTE VEDRA BEACH, Fla. – Hideki Matsuyama put on quite a show for the fans on Thursday, shooting a course-record tying 9-under 63 at the Stadium Course at TPC Sawgrass in the opening round of the Players Championship.

But there won’t be many witnesses if more history is made in the final three rounds of the tournament as the PGA Tour announced that due to concerns of coronavirus all of its events will proceed without fans through the Valero Texas Open, April 2-5.

“It will be strange tomorrow,” Matsuyama said through an interpreter. “I think all of us will have to go back to our college days to play without gallery. But with that said, I know there’s a lot of people watching television and a lot of fans rooting for us and so I’ll do my best.”

Matsuyama, who began his round on the back nine, took advantage of soft conditions, receptive greens and attacked pins to birdie his first four holes en route to carding the ninth round of 63 at designer Pete Dye’s house of horrors since Fred Couples became the first to do so in 1992, and the fifth in the first round. Three of the previous four players to shoot 63 in the first round went on to win: Greg Norman (1994), Martin Kaymer (2014) and Jason Day (2016).

Matsuyama of Japan made his lone bogey of the day when he splashed his second shot at the par-5 16th in the water, but he capped off his round by smoking a 291-yard 3-wood to 25 feet right of the back left hole location and rammed the putt in for eagle.

“I knew if I made that putt, if I made eagle there, I would be close to a course record,” Matsuyama said.

For one day, at least, the putter was more friend than foe for Matsuyama. He took just 25 putts, holing nearly 112 feet of putts and ranked first in Strokes Gained: Putting. On the season, he ranks T-198 in that category.

“It’s the best he’s putted this season, bar none,” said his translator Bob Turner, who watches nearly all of his rounds. “He did not miss a putt, even the long lags were perfect touch, leaving tap ins.”

Matsuyama’s ball striking has been its usual reliable stuff, but the putter has kept him from the winner’s circle.

“I’ve been working hard and have a lot of confidence now in my swing,” Matsuyama said. “Today I made some putts and that seems to be the difference of late. That was really the catapult to me to have a good round today.”

Hideki Matsuyama lines up a putt on the 10th green during the first round of the 2020 Players Championship at TPC Sawgrass – Stadium Course. (Photo: Adam Hagy/USA TODAY Sports)

Some of the credit for Matsuyama’s turnaround with the short stick may go to sticking a different Scotty Cameron by Titleist model putter in his bag this week. He has won five times on Tour and reached World No. 2, but hasn’t hoisted a trophy since the World Golf Championship at Firestone Country Club in 2017 and has slipped to No. 21.

“He played great,” said Patrick Cantlay, who played in the same threesome and signed for 5-under 67 and tied with last week’s runner-up Marc Leishman. “It was actually sneaky hard out there. I got so many mud balls that it was darn near a complete guessing game four or five times from the middle of the fairway.”

Matsuyama finished two strokes ahead of American Harris English, who recorded his fifth top-10 finish last week at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, and South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout, who fired a bogey-free round in his just his third Tour start and his Players debut. Bezuidenhout, 25, is ranked No. 48 in the world. If he remains in the top 50 after the WGC-Dell Match Play in two weeks, he will earn a spot in the Masters for the first time.

“It’s obviously in the back of my mind,” he said.

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Irons used by PGA Tour players ranked in the top 10 in strokes gained approach the green

See a complete list of the irons used by the best ballstrikers on the PGA Tour in 2020.

The offseason, such as it was, is long over and the West Coast Swing is now in the rearview mirror too. These days, most of golf’s best players are in Florida, honing their games and getting ready for the Players Championship and the season’s first major, the Masters, which is just a month away.

While there has been a lot of talk in recent weeks about distance, solid iron play is always critical for success. The players listed below all rank in the top 10 in strokes gained approach the green, which means, statisically, they have been the best irons players this season on the PGA Tour. The number listed next to their names is their strokes gained approach the green average. If a player averages a one, that means he is one shot better than the field average on Tour, meaning he would pick up four shots against the field – based solely on his iron play – during a 72-hole event.

See who they are and the clubs they use.

Paul Casey's Mizuno irons
Paul Casey’s Mizuno irons (David Dusek/Golfweek)

10. Paul Casey, 0.905

IRONS: Mizuno MP-25 (3), Mizuno JPX 919 Hot Metal Pro (4), Mizuno MP-5 (5-PW), with Nippon N.S. Pro Modus3 Tour 120 TX shafts

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Clutch birdie on 18 earns Justin Thomas, Tiger Woods another point at Presidents Cup

Justin Thomas hit a 17-footer for birdie on the final hole to earn another point alongside Tiger Woods at the Presidents Cup.

This match will forever be known for the tandem putter drop.

After cruising to a point during the first round four-ball matches at the Presidents Cup, Tiger Woods and Justin Thomas were in a dogfight for 18 holes during Friday’s (Thursday night in the U.S.) foursomes match. With a tied match on the final hole, Thomas made a clutch birdie putt from 17 feet to seal the second point in as many days for the pairing, 1 up.

Woods and Thomas went 2 up through the first five holes at Royal Melbourne, but the Internationals’ Hideki Matsuyama and Byeong Hun An clawed back to the tie the match at the turn.

The Internationals then went 1 up over the next three holes, but an American birdie – their first since the fifth hole – tied the match on the 13th. Both teams then went bogey-birdie-par-par over the next four holes, taking the all-square match to the 18th hole.

PRESIDENTS CUP: Scores | Best photos
MEET THE TEAMS: USA | Internationals

Thomas’ drive missed the fairway to the right, giving Woods and approach shot from the baked-out rough. The Internationals were in the fairway then found the green, 25 feet from the middle-left pin. Woods threw his approach into the air and he walked after it, ultimately coming to rest 17 feet behind the hole.

Matsuyama’s birdie putt missed just slightly long and right, opening the door for Thomas to save the day and earn a point with a clutch birdie.

“I don’t know. I’m speechless,” said an emotional Thomas on Golf Channel after the putt, with Woods at his side. “I’ve made a lot of, been fortunate to hit a lot of big putts. To do it with my captain and maybe turn the tide in this Presidents Cup is awesome.”

A few minutes later, Rickie Fowler made a putt to earn a half point for the U.S., the final piece of a late American rally. The International team led 4-1 after Day 1 and will take a 6½-3½ lead into Day 3.

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Presidents Cup: Patrick Reed hears it from fans, goes down to defeat

MELBOURNE, Australia – When Patrick Reed arrived at the first tee at Royal Melbourne, the partisan crowd pelted him with catcalls that referenced his recent rules infraction for improving his lie in a waste bunker at the Hero World Challenge. “Are …

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MELBOURNE, Australia – When Patrick Reed arrived at the first tee at Royal Melbourne, the partisan crowd pelted him with catcalls that referenced his recent rules infraction for improving his lie in a waste bunker at the Hero World Challenge.

“Are you really going to make your caddie carry 14 clubs and a shovel?” one shouted.

That one even made Reed crack a smile.

Standing near the first tee as an observer on Day One was American Matt Kuchar, who said he expected the jeers to fire up Reed.

“I think he really enjoys that,” Kuchar said. “I saw that as being a thing where, man, this is going to get Patrick in the state he wants to be in; he needs to be in; plays better in that state. When I heard it, I thought, ‘Can’t wait to see how he does. This is his element.’ ”

But Reed didn’t shush the crowd as he had done at the 2014 Ryder Cup at Gleneagles. Nor did it lead to inspired play. He and partner Webb Simpson never led in their Four-ball match and lost 1 up to Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama and C.T. Pan of Chinese Taipei. It was Reed’s first loss in four Presidents Cup Four-ball matches.

PRESIDENTS CUP: Scores | Viewer’s guide | Photos

Reed received a chorus of boos when his name was announced, the only player to receive such a welcome. Two days after a fan dubbed him “The Excavator,” Reed stepped to the first tee and belted his tee shot down the right side and watched in disgust as it rolled into a bunker. The crowd erupted in cheers.

“I’ll have the shovel, thanks,” one fan said.

From the you can’t make this up department: Reed hit into bunkers on the first three holes. There were catcalls of “get in the bunker” and “stay out of the bunker.” Seemingly every hole, a spectator or two made some crack but it was rarely over the top.

When Reed drove into the hay right of the seventh fairway, a spectator declared it a bad lie and joked, “Go ahead and fix it. Take a foot wedge.”

Reed was heckled with “Mr. Sandman,” and there were a few cries of “cheat,” most vocally from a boozy group of fans holding Heinekens in a chalet bordering the 10th hole.

“It’s exactly what I expected,” Reed later said.

“Undeserved,” Simpson said. “Undeserved.”

But overall, the fan reaction was subdued and while it likely will continue throughout the event, it didn’t seem to impact Reed negatively. If anything, it failed to provide Reed with the boost that Kuchar expected.

The Internationals came out punching, as Matsuyama and Pan combined to birdie Nos. 2-5 and take an early 2-up lead. Reed drove the sixth green, but it was Simpson who canned the birdie putt to win the hole. That was the only hole they won on the first nine. They fell 2-down when the American team both drove into trouble on No. 9 and made bogey to lose the hole.

“That hole alone, you know, is the difference of being all-square than down,” Reed said. “You know, in a format like this, you just can’t make bogeys and unfortunately neither of us was able to convert.”

Reed didn’t go down without a fight. He cut the deficit in half at No. 12 by knocking a short iron from 134 yards to inside 4 feet. At 16, with Captain Tiger Woods looking on, Reed holed an 11-foot birdie putt to tie the match and yelled, “Come on!”

That was the closest we came to seeing the fist pumps and hijinks that earned Reed the nickname “Captain America” other than a supporter at the first tee dressed in a Captain America onesie.

But one hole later, Matsuyama buried a 27-foot birdie putt to regain the lead and that proved to be the difference.

“How good was that putt?” Pan said later.

Reed had one last chance to make birdie and salvage half a point but his putt didn’t even scare the hole.

“We brought it back,” Simpson said. “But we just didn’t get it done.”

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2019 Presidents Cup odds, lines, picks and best bets: Which side wins at Royal Melbourne?

Previewing the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club, with golf betting odds and picks for outright winner and the best props.

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The 2019 Presidents Cup takes place this week at The Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Twelve of the top golfers from the United States tee off against 12 of the best from outside of Europe. Below, we analyze the tournament odds and prop bets, with golf betting picks and tips.

The first round will start Wednesday, Dec. 11, at 5:30 p.m. ET.

Looking to place a bet on this tournament? Get some action on it at BetMGM. Sign up and bet at BetMGM now!

Presidents Cup Teams

Captains Tiger Woods (USA) and Ernie Els (International) selected the following teams:

Team USA International Team
Dustin Johnson–Justin Thomas Hideki Matsuyama–Adam Scott
Matt Kuchar–Xander Schauffele Louis Oosthuizen–Marc Leishman
Webb Simpson–Patrick Cantlay Abraham Ancer–Haotong Li
Bryson DeChambeau–Tiger Woods C.T. Pan–Cameron Smith
Gary Woodland–Tony Finau Joaquin Niemann–Adam Hadwin
Patrick Reed–Rickie Fowler Sungjae Im–Byeong Hun An

The entire US team ranks in the top 25 of the Official World Golf Ranking, while only three members of the International side are in the top 25.

Presidents Cup Tournament Winner

Odds provided by BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Monday at 1 p.m. ET.

Team USA has won the past seven Presidents Cups and leads the all-time series against the International side at 10-1-1. Fortunately for the global squad, which is led by three Australians, its only Presidents Cup victory was at this venue in 1998.

The INTERNATIONALS are getting juicy +250 odds for the tournament victory. Team USA is a -250 favorite. Look for Adam Scott (No. 18), Marc Leishman (No. 28) and Cameron Smith (No. 52) to lead the Internationals to victory on home soil.

Presidents Cup Prop Bets

Internationals +3.5 Points (-125)

After losing 19-11 in 2017, look for the Internationals to keep it closer this time out. Their previous two losses in 2015 and ’13, were decided by one and three points, respectively.

Top Combined Points Scorer: Adam Scott (+1200)

Scott will have the crowd behind him as the top golfer from the host nation. He didn’t play in 1998 (when the Internationals got their lone win in the event, also in Melbourne), but he has won both the Australian Open and Australian PGA Championship and has spoken highly of wanting to win at the famed Royal Melbourne as a potential career highlight.

Who will score the most points for the USA? Patrick Reed (+900)

Expect the best from Reed, who has excelled in the Ryder Cup format against Europe, and in the 2017 Presidents Cup. He’s coming off another controversy at last week’s Hero World Challenge in which he was penalized two strokes for improving his line of play in a waste bunker.

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