After he made the ace, Matsuyama threw his ball into the gallery to a lucky fan.
SAN DIEGO — Hideki Matsuyama has accomplished a lot in his golf career.
The 31-year-old from Japan reached No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking before he turned professional and has since gone on to win eight times on both the PGA Tour and Japan Golf Tour. In 2021 he became the first-ever Japanese player to win a men’s major at the Masters. He’s also represented the International Team at the Presidents Cup five times.
During Thursday’s second round of the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open, Matsuyama crossed a major feat off his PGA Tour to-do list: make a hole-in-one. Matsuyama aced the par-3 8th hole on the South Course Torrey Pines for his first-ever hole-in-one on the PGA Tour in his 247th start.
It’s the 26th hole-in-one in the event’s history – each has come at Torrey Pines – and first at No. 8 on the South Course since Richy Werenski in the final round in 2020.
Calm conditions made Torrey Pines ripe for the picking Wednesday, especially the North Course.
SAN DIEGO — Record rainfall caused flooding and power outages across the county in the days leading up to the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open, which made for a soggy start to the PGA Tour’s annual trip to Torrey Pines.
A whopping 107 of the 156 players in the field were even par or better on a calm Wednesday at the 36-hole muni gem along the cliffs of the Pacific Ocean (No. 39 in Golfweek’s Best public courses list). And yes, the often gettable North Course produced significantly more birdies than the tricky South Course.
Kevin Yu leads the way after a bogey-free, 8-under 64, but the 25-year-old’s birdie fest wasn’t the only notable story from the first round. From a title defense in the making to signature event bubble watch and another sponsor exemption in the mix, here’s what you need to know about Wednesday at the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open.
Another year, another week at the Plantation Course. The PGA Tour is back in Maui to kick off 2024 at The Sentry, the year’s first signature event. Although the 59-man field is loaded with big names, there are a few sleepers to keep an eye on.
Defending champion Jon Rahm isn’t in the field to vie for back-to-back titles thanks to his recent move to LIV Golf. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Viktor Hovland, Jordan Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Xander Schauffele and Max Homa are just some of the superstars teeing it up Thursday. Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas, however, aren’t in the field.
Let’s take a look at a few sleeper picks for The Sentry.
Suguira followed up his victory by immediately declaring that he was turning professional.
After shooting a first-round 7-under 64 to sit just one back of 2021 Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, Japanese amateur Yuta Sugiura shot rounds of 64-68-69-71 to shoot 12 under and win the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament by three shots.
“I’m really happy. It was a goal I’ve had for a long time, and I’m truly happy to have achieved it in my last match as an amateur,” Sugiura told the Japan Golf Tour.
2023 PGA champion Brooks Koepka also registered a 2-over 72 final round to finish T-15 at 3-under total, while fellow PGA Tour stars Sahith Theegala and 2023 U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark posted final rounds of even par 71 and 1-under 70 to be placed T-31 and T-37, respectively.
Suguira followed up his victory by immediately declaring that he was turning professional.
Here are five things you need to know from the opening round of the Zozo Championship.
Collin Morikawa isn’t the type to allow himself to think too far ahead but even he acknowledged that winning the Zozo Championship in Japan, the country where his father’s side of the family grew up, would hold a special place in his heart.
“There’s obviously a little bit more meaning to this tournament for me, but look, a win’s a win, I’ll take a win anywhere, right?” he said. “I’m doing everything I can the next three days and kind of tonight to make sure I give myself the best opportunity to do that.”
He’s off to a flying start, posting a bogey-free 6-under 64 on Thursday at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in the Chiba Prefecture of Japan, the third time he’s shot that figure in 13 career rounds at the course. Morikawa, who started on the back nine, raced to three birdies in his first four holes and barely slowed down. He tacked on birdies at Nos. 16 and 17 and one more on his inward nine at the sixth. He drained an uphill 8-foot par putt at his last hole of the day to grab a one-stroke lead over five golfers.
Morikawa has won five times on the PGA Tour, including a pair of majors, at the precocious age of 26. But he’s also winless since the 2021 British Open and is anxious to get back into the winner’s circle. He blew a six-stroke 54-hole lead at the Sentry Championship in January and nearly won the Rocket Mortgage Classic in July, losing in a playoff to Rickie Fowler. In the last two seasons, he’s recorded 14 top-10 finishes, tied with Tommy Fleetwood for the most during that span without a win. Morikawa is making his first start during the FedEx Cup Fall and competing for the first time since the Ryder Cup.
“Taking a few weeks off, you never know what you’re going to get, but I’ve been kind of working on a few things trying to get control of the golf ball, spent a lot of time putting yesterday,” Morikawa said. “It’s nice to kind of see the work I’ve put in, just kind of recreate that on the golf course.”
Here are four more things to know from the first round of the Zozo Championship.
Sushi, family ties, guaranteed money and the chance to end winless streaks top the list.
Collin Morikawa is of Japanese heritage and has traveled to the homeland of his ancestors before, but his trip to compete in the PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship in Chiba, Japan, began with a special treat – dinner at Sukiyabashi Jiro, the first sushi restaurant in the world to receive three stars from the Michelin Guide, where the omakase tasting menu is served at the counter with just 10 seats and is determined in the morning each day by famed chef Jiro Ono, whose story was made famous in the documentary “Jiro Dreams of Sushi.”
“I almost don’t want to have sushi again because it was that special,” Morikawa said during a pre-tournament press conference Wednesday. “Chef Jiro was actually making the sushi for us, which made it even that much more special. Just being able to get that reservation, going there, sitting down. … you have about 30 minutes to eat the food. Man, I don’t know how to explain it other than it just being an incredible experience and an honor to be there sitting in front of him and witnessing just talent, right? It’s artwork.”
Morikawa, a two-time major winner and ranked 20th in the world, is one of several big-name talents with Japanese ties competing this week at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in a 78-man field with no cut and co-sanctioned by the Japan Golf Tour.
While the other six FedEx Fall events largely are a battle royale to determine who finishes in the top 125 and keeps a Tour card for the 2024 season – with some battling to finish between Nos. 51-60 and earn an exemption into the first two signature events of the new year – the Zozo is a field that consists of 11 members of the Japan Golf Tour and 17 players in the top 50 of the FedEx Cup points list, who can’t improve their status for 2024.
Morikawa, who competed on the U.S. side in the Ryder Cup, is playing this week at what he calls “one of my favorite places in the world to be,” and is planning a multi-week trip in Asia with his wife on the back end. But first and foremost it’s a business trip for Morikawa, who is winless since the 2021 British Open.
Collin Morikawa of the United States speaks in a press conference ahead of the Zozo Championship at Narashino Country Club on October 18, 2023 in Inzai, Chiba, Japan. (Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images)
“At the end of the day I want to win and I just haven’t been able to close that out yet and finish that off. Here’s one last chance for the season to kind of come off and finish off on a high note,” he explained. “I know what my goal is and I know what I want to do and accomplish this week is really just stand up and find a way to win.”
He’s not alone in that desire. Xander Schauffele, whose mother, Ping Yi, was born in Chinese Taipei but grew up in Japan from the age of 2, already saw his grandparents Sunday when he arrived and spent some time with them Monday morning before getting back to work. He’s one of five players in the field that has competed at the Zozo Championship in each years since its inception.
“Coming to Japan is pretty simple for me. I have family here and to be able to sort of split the workload and seeing my grandparents is really cool, I wouldn’t pass that up for anything,” said Schauffele, who is No. 6 in the world but hasn’t hoisted a trophy this season either. “Of course, I’m still chasing a win this season and only have a few opportunities left to get that done. Winning is a very important thing and sort of how our careers are judged, and I wasn’t able to win, but the season isn’t over yet.”
Schauffele made his professional debut in Japan in 2018 at a Japan Golf Tour event and still savors the experience, though it didn’t go as planned.
“I shot a pair of 76s or 77s, missed the cut by a landslide,” he said. “I remember hitting a lot of balls OB and just struggling to get my feet grounded playing in my first pro start.”
But Schauffele’s greatest success to date also happened in Japan when he won the gold medal in the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.
“It kind of gets better as time goes on,” he said. “I can hear people in Japanese saying, ‘Oh, there’s a gold medalist’ when I walk by, so it’s pretty cool.”
Rickie Fowler’s middle name, Yutaka, comes from his maternal grandfather, who is Japanese, and he has always supported the Zozo event, which will be his lone start during the FedEx Fall. Last year, he finished second and it kick-started a comeback campaign capped off by a win at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, his first title in more than four years.
Rickie Fowler of the United States lines up a putt on the first green ahead of the Zozo Championship at Narashino Country Club on October 18, 2023 in Inzai, Chiba, Japan. (Photo by Yoshimasa Nakano/Getty Images)
“That was one that kind of helped me build some confidence and momentum going into what was a little bit of an offseason and really helped propel me to play some good golf this year,” he said.
Hideki Matsuyama, who won this event in his homeland in 2021 and finished second to Tiger Woods in 2019, leads the Japanese contingent in the field after a two-month layoff.
“The first month I really took it easy,” said Matsuyama, who hasn’t played since he withdrew before teeing off in the second of the BMW Championship in August citing a back injury. “It’s been a long time since I took that much time off, but the last month I’ve been working hard getting my game back in shape and I feel good about heading into this week.”
Matsuyama hasn’t won since the 2022 Sony Open in Hawaii, but that isn’t as long as Aussie Adam Scott, who has lifted a trophy 14 times on the Tour but none since the 2020 Genesis Invitational.
“I’ve got lots of different goals, I guess, but really to sum that up, I want to get back in the winner’s circle on Tour,” said Scott, who has been a consistent competitor in Japan throughout his career and competed in the Japan Open last week. “I feel like I still have the game to compete on Tour and be a winner. I’d like to kind of start here this week, but let’s keep that going in ’24, too.”
The FedEx Fall may not have the same cache as the regular season but even for these big names, winning still matters.
After the PGA Tour finishes up in Las Vegas this weekend at the Shriners Children’s Open — where LPGA star Lexi Thompson nearly made the cut — it’ll head to Chiba, Japan, for the 2023 Zozo Championship at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club.
Defending champion Keegan Bradley will tee it up with hopes of going back-to-back, but he’ll have to fend off a loaded field to do so. In all, 16 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking will tee it up come Thursday, including Collin Morikawa, Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama, Sungjae Im and Rickie Fowler.
Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club is a par-70 track measuring 7,079 yards.
Here’s the full field for the 2023 Zozo Championship.
16 of the top 50 players in the Official World Golf Ranking are committed to the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, including the last two winners, Hideki Matsuyama and Keegan Bradley.
Xander Schauffele will make his first start since finishing second at the TOUR Championship.
Hideki Matsuyama opened the 2023 BMW Championship with a 1-over 71 Thursday at Olympia Fields’ North Course outside of Chicago.
However, due to a back injury, Matsuyama withdrew before the second round of the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
The Japanese star has suffered through several injuries over the last few seasons and this just adds to the list.
Currently ranked 47th in the point standings, Matsuyama will miss the Tour Championship at East Lake next week, as only the top 30 earn an invitation.
He’s made the last nine Tour Championships, the longest active streak of any player.
Hideki Matsuyama is a WD prior to the second round of the BMW Championship with a back injury. Matsuyama had qualified for the TOUR Championship in each of the last nine seasons, the longest active streak of any player.
Cameron Young is the perfect course fit for Olympia Fields.
We’re down to 50.
The FedEx Cup Playoffs roll on this week at Olympia Fields outside of Chicago for the BMW Championship. While Patrick Cantlay is the BMW defending champion — he won at Wilmington Country Club — Jon Rahm is the last player to win this event at OFCC, defeating Dustin Johnson in a playoff in 2020.
After Lucas Glover’s win at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, he moves into the No. 4 spot in the points standings, only behind Rory McIlroy (No. 3), Scottie Scheffler (No. 2) and Rahm (No. 1).
Twenty players will be sent packing Sunday evening, with the top 30 advancing to next week’s Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.
Golf course
Olympia Fields Country Club (North Course) | Par 70 | 7,366 yards
A general view of the sixth green as Rory McIlroy putts during the BMW Championship on the North Course at Olympia Fields Country Club on August 29, 2020, in Olympia Fields, Illinois. (Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images)
The ramifications of missing the cut at the Wyndham Championship on Friday, for some, meant the start of the offseason.
GREENSBORO, N.C. — The ramifications of missing the cut at the Wyndham Championship on Friday, for some, meant the start of the offseason.
Only the top 70 in the season-long FedEx Cup advance to the playoffs next week after 44 regular season events. For Ben Griffin, who entered the week at No. 68, and Austin Eckroat, the “Bubble Boy” at No. 70, they could read the writing on the wall as they struggled to the finish of their morning round in the same threesome.
“The last three holes we tried to determine how many hole-outs we both needed to make the cut, and none of us had a hole-out. I thought I had a good chance of a hole-out on 8,” Griffin said. “But we were joking around towards the end. There’s not much you can do with when you’re four or five out with a few holes to go except try to have fun out there.”
Hope is not completely lost for these two, who will have to sit and wait, hope and pray that they hang on to their precarious rankings. After 36 holes, Griffin still was projected to be Memphis bound at No. 70 while Eckroat is going to need more help as he’s projected to be No. 72.
In all, 74 players moved on to the weekend with a 36-hole total of 2-under 138, including two-time champion Brandt Snedeker, who birdied the final two holes to earn a weekend tee time at 3 under. However, Ben Taylor, Garrick Higgo, K.H. Lee, David Lingmerth, the four players who entered the week Nos. 71-74 in the FedExCup standings, missed the cut and have been eliminated from playoff contention.
