Tour News
Matsuyama wins his first at the Memorial
One might have glanced at the calendar early Sunday afternoon and questioned whether it was June or July. Fireworks were exploding all over the Muirfield Village course as a mixture of young and old club-slingers exchanged birdie barrages all day. Kevin Na owned the clubhouse lead at 4 p.m. on 13-under par, courtesy of an eight-birdie round of 64. Na was something of an afterthought, however, as a slew of challengers was following his lead and lighting off its share of roman candles.
Adam Scott was 5-under on the day through 11 holes and 14-under overall. Bubba Watson, the third-round leader, had countered a solitary bogey with four birdies and stood at 3-under on the day, 15-under through thirteen holes on Sunday. And young Hideki Matsuyama boasted 6-under and 15-under totals for day and the tournament, respectively.
Then a cold front came in from somewhere. Scott went double-birdie-bogey-bogey-bogey on holes No. 12 through 16, highlighted by a Tiger Woods-esque wedge to the par-five 15th that clanged off the flagstick and off the green, leading to a bogey. Watson made bogey-double bogey on Nos. 14 and 15, and Matsuyama offset birdies on Nos. 13 and 15 with bogeys on Nos. 14 and 17, as well as a double bogey on No. 16. Suddenly, Kevin Na had a one-stroke lead to himself. To make matters worse, Matsuyama took his driver out of play with a ground-spanking on the 72nd tee, separating the head and shaft. He would be be one club down should a playoff ensue, but Matsuyama first needed to birdie the 18th.
And birdie it he did. The 22-year old staked an 8-iron to five feet from the right side of the fairway and made the putt to join Na at 13-under.
“At the 18th, I hit my tee shot in the fairway, what I had to do,” Matsuyama said. “And the second shot … I knew I had to make birdie, so I took dead aim for the pin. The wind was coming from the right, so I just hit it up, just my normal shot, let the wind take it a little bit. And I didn’t know it was that close until actually I got up onto the green.”
Only Bubba Watson could join Matsuyama and Na in the playoff, but he would also need birdie to do so. When his last-ditch attempt to tie the youngsters failed, the 2014 Masters champion was left to wonder “what if…” with a shocked look on his demoralized face. For a fellow who has won twice this spring, he still felt a bit snake-bit by the golfing gods:
“It’s tough,” Watson said. “I made one bad decision. If I hit the 4-wood off the tee instead of the driver on the par 5, we make five and we win by one. But I made a double, so we lost by one. It wasn’t too bad. Swing was there. Ability was there. I tried on the last few holes. I always try to fit driver on [No. 17], try to dink it. I hit it in the bunker, but still hit the 9-iron in there; had a chance for birdie. [No. 18]. I hit a good 5 iron in there that landed right next to the pin, and obviously just stayed up in the rough there. “
Adam Scott, the 2013 Masters Champion and currently on the longest run of solid golf of his life, took a more stoic view of his misfortune on the par-five 15th.
“Yeah, that’s a big swing there,” Scott said. “I mean, likelihood is the wedge finishes pretty close, especially with a backstop behind the hole. It’s going to be inside the circle that you like to be in, and then I’m right there with three to go. But left myself in a spot down the front of the green. It’s very hard to get it up and down. And the grass is so tight down there and there’s no margin for error on the chip. And I just missed the slope to come back to the hole a little bit. It’s the way it goes. You get lucky breaks and you get bad ones.”
Off they went to the 18th tee, Na and Matsuyama, locked in a playoff duel for the 2014 Memorial Tournament title. Matsuyama chose not to replace his driver with his backup, and slapped his 3 wood into the nest of bunkers that guards the inside of the dogleg. Na, who had not hit a shot on-course for over two hours, pull-hooked a driver into the creek that runs through the rough left of the fairway.
Click here to see the clubs Matsuyama used to win the Memorial Tournament.
Na went first, going to the opposite bank of the creek for his drop, then leaving his 5 wood out to the right in the thick rough to the side of the green. Matsuyama, seemingly in the driver’s seat, elected to go for the green from the bunker with 4 iron and over-cooked it into the gallery left of the putting surface. After each recovered to the putting surface, Matsuyama had a putt for par to win the title outright. His curling, right-to-left effort never wavered as it moved to the bottom of the hole. Matsuyama made his first victory on the PGA Tour a special one, winning Jack Nicklaus’ own Memorial Tournament.
In defeat, Na was both gracious and sincere.
“My miss is right,” Na said. “So I was trying to stay in the shot and actually overcompensated if anything and pulled it. And I was looking pretty good up there for a bogey, and obviously he deserved it with that great putt he made. I was hoping I could get an extra hole in, but he hit an unbelievable putt. That was not an easy downhill slope putt. So he deserved it.”
As for the tournament host, Mr. Jack Nicklaus was again impressed by what he saw in Matsuyama.
“I think his size is larger than most of your Japanese players, Nicklaus said. “He has the ability to be able to play golf courses well within himself and doesn’t have to push for distance and strength. So his tempo is so good and … he’s very calm. When he knocked the ball in the water at [No. 16] today, you just saw him bear down and try to play a better shot. I thought that showed a lot about him. And I just think you’ve just seen the start of what’s going to be truly one of your world’s great players over the next 10 to 15 years.”
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 RBC Heritage
GolfWRX is on site this week at Harbour Town Golf Links on Hilton Head Island for the RBC Heritage. Plenty of golfers who competed in the Masters last week will be making the quick turnaround in the Lowcountry of South Carolina as the Heritage is again one of the Tour’s Signature Events.
We have general albums for you to check out, as well as plenty of WITBs — including Justin Thomas and Justin Rose.
We’ll continue to update as more photos flow in from SC.
Check out links to all our photos, below.
General Albums
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Monday #1
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Monday #2
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Tuesday #1
- 2024 RBC Heritage – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Justin Thomas – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Justin Rose – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Chandler Phillips – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Nick Dunlap – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Thomas Detry – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Austin Eckroat – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Xander Schauffele – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Jason Day – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Will Zalatoris – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Patrick Cantlay – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Ludvig Aberg – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Collin Morikawa – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Sam Burns – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Stephen Jaeger – WITB – 2024 RBC Heritage
Pullout Albums
- Wyndham Clark’s Odyssey putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- JT’s new Cameron putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Justin Thomas testing new Titleist 2 wood – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Cameron putters – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Odyssey putter with triple track alignment aid – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Scotty Cameron The Blk Box putting alignment aid/training aid – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Cameron putter – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Odyssey Ai One Eleven T putters – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Christian Bezuidenhout – testing new Callaway Ti 340 mini driver – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Rory McIlroy testing the new TaylorMade BRNR Mini Driver Copper – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Xander Schauffele testing the Callaway Ti 340 mini driver & the DUW – 2024 RBC Heritage
- Byeong Hun An, two new L.A.B. Golf putter builds with “T” alignment – 2024 RBC Heritage
See what GolfWRXers are saying and join the discussion in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Valero Texas Open
GolfWRX is on site this week at the Valero Texas Open.
The event has been around since 1922, making it one of the oldest on the PGA Tour calendar. Over the years, it’s been held at a variety of courses across the Lone Star State, but it’s found its home at TPC San Antonio in recent years. Some of the biggest names in golf have taken home the title here, including Arnold Palmer, Ben Hogan, Lee Trevino, and Ben Crenshaw.
GolfWRX has its usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs and special pull-out albums. As always, we’ll continue to update the links below as more photos come in from TPC San Antonio.
General Albums
WITB Albums
- Ben Taylor – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Paul Barjon – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Joe Sullivan – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Wilson Furr – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Ben Willman – SoTex PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Jimmy Stanger – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Rickie Fowler – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Harrison Endycott – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Vince Whaley – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Kevin Chappell – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Christian Bezuidenhout – WITB (mini) – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Scott Gutschewski – WITB – 2024 Valero Texas Open
Pullout Albums
- Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Ben Taylor with new Titleist TRS 2 wood – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Swag cover – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Greyson Sigg’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Davis Riley’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Josh Teater’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Hzrdus T1100 is back – – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Mark Hubbard testing ported Titleist irons – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Tyson Alexander testing new Titleist TRS 2 wood – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Hideki Matsuyama’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Valero Texas Open
- Cobra putters – 2024 Valero Texas Open
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
GolfWRX is on site in the Lone Star State this week for the Texas Children’s Houston Open.
General galleries from the putting green and range, WITBs — including Thorbjorn Olesen and Zac Blair — and several pull-out albums await.
As always, we’ll continue to update as more photos flow in. Check out links to all our photos from Houston below.
General Albums
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Monday #1
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Monday #2
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Tuesday #2
- 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open – Tuesday #3
WITB Albums
- Thorbjorn Olesen – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Ben Silverman – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Jesse Droemer – SoTX PGA Section POY – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- David Lipsky – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Martin Trainer – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Zac Blair – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Jacob Bridgeman – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Trace Crowe – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Daniel Berger – WITB(very mini) – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Chesson Hadley – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Callum McNeill – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Rhein Gibson – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Patrick Fishburn – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Peter Malnati – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Raul Pereda – WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Gary Woodland WITB (New driver, iron shafts) – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Padraig Harrington WITB – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
Pullout Albums
- Tom Hoge’s custom Cameron – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Cameron putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Piretti putters – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Ping putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Kevin Dougherty’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Bettinardi putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Cameron putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Erik Barnes testing an all-black Axis1 putter – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
- Tony Finau’s new driver shaft – 2024 Texas Children’s Houston Open
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Ronald Montesano
Jun 2, 2014 at 12:42 pm
I agree with you. Na is extraordinarily talented and the two-hour wait did nothing to help him. I was surprised he took driver after HM put his three-metal in the sand. He must have been striping it in order to have that confidence. It was a win-win for the Memorial in that playoff.
Thanks for reading…Keep commenting!!
thefullsp
Jun 2, 2014 at 12:05 pm
I’m becoming more impressed with Kevin Na. He seems to have sped up, he seems in control of himself and he was very gracious, even though he was bitterly disappointed. He probably couldn’t believe his luck as they gifted him a chance to be in a playoff. I haven’t read what his medical exemption was for, but whatever, kudos to him for getting on track and being very sporting in defeat. Or as I look at, hundreds of thousands of buckaroos for a few days grind. Nice work Kev!!!!! Matsuyama has a lot of character. Looks pretty unflappable out there.