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 PGA Championship
GolfWRX is on site this week at Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville, Kentucky, for the PGA Championship.
While we see fewer equipment changes and new gear seeding at major championships, we get a look at custom gear and looks into the bags of players we rarely see, which is just as exciting. In the case of the PGA Championship, this means a look at the gear some of the PGA Professionals who qualified for the tournament will be gaming, and LIV players, such as Jon Rahm and Patrick Reed.
Check out links to all our albums from Valhalla below and check back throughout the week as we continue to update.
General Albums
WITB Albums
- Michael Block – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Patrick Reed – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Cam Smith – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brooks Koepka – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Josh Speight – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Takumi Kanaya – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Kyle Mendoza – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Adrian Meronk – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jordan Smith – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jeremy Wells – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jared Jones – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- John Somers – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Larkin Gross – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Tracy Phillips – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jon Rahm – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Keita Nakajima – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Kazuma Kobori – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- David Puig – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Ryan Van Velzen – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brad Marek – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Chris Gotterup – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Rich Beem WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Phil Mickelson – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Matt Dobyns – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Lucas Herbert – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Jason Dufner – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- John Daly – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Taylor Gooch – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Dean Burmester – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Joaquin Niemann – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
- Dustin Johnson – WITB – 2024 PGA Championship
Pullout Albums
- Ping putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Bettinardi covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Cameron putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
- Max Homa – Titleist 2 wood – 2024 PGA Championship
- Scotty Cameron experimental putter shaft by UST – 2024 PGA Championship
- Joaquin Niemann – new Ping putter – 2024 PGA Championship
- Brooks Koepka’s new Cameron putter – 2024 PGA Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s Cobra bag and Aerojet driver – 2024 PGA Championship
- Super Stroke grip – 2024 PGA Championship
- Tiger Woods – 2024 PGA Championship
- Michael Block’s new TaylorMade “Proto” 7-iron, from address – 2024 PGA Championship
- Odyssey putter covers – 2024 PGA Championship
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News
Photos from the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
GolfWRX is live this week at the Wells Fargo Championship as a field of the world’s best golfers descend upon Charlotte, North Carolina, hoping to tame the beast that is Quail Hollow Club in this Signature Event — only Scottie Scheffler, who is home awaiting the birth of his first child, is absent.
From the grounds at Quail Hollow, we have our usual assortment of general galleries and WITBs — including a look at left-hander Akshay Bhatia’s setup. Among the pullout albums, we have a look inside Cobra’s impressive new tour truck for you to check out. Also featured is a special look at Quail Hollow king, Rory McIlroy.
Be sure to check back throughout the week as we add more galleries.
General Albums
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Monday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #1
- 2024 Wells Fargo Championship – Tuesday #2
WITB Albums
- Akshay Bhatia – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matthieu Pavon – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Keegan Bradley – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Webb Simpson – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Emiliano Grillo – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Taylor Pendrith – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Kevin Tway – WITB – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
Pullout Albums
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rory McIlroy – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- New Cobra equipment truck – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Eric Cole’s custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Custom Cameron putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Matt Kuchar’s custom Bettinardi – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Justin Thomas – driver change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler – putter change – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Rickie Fowler’s new custom Odyssey Jailbird 380 putter – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Tommy Fleetwood testing a TaylorMade Spider Tour X (with custom neck) – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
- Cobra Darkspeed Volition driver – 2024 Wells Fargo Championship
See what GolfWRXers are saying about our Wells Fargo Championship photos in the forums.
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Tour Photo Galleries
Photos from the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
GolfWRX is on site this week in McKinney, Texas, at the 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson (FKA the AT&T Byron Nelson).
Last year at TPC Craig Ranch, Jason Day ended a five-year winless streak. J-Day is in the field again, as are Jordan Spieth, Tom Kim, and Will Zalatoris.
We have our usual assortment of general galleries, WITBs, and pullout albums for your perusal. As always, we’ll continue to add links to additional albums as they make their way to us from the Lone Star State.
Check out links to all our photos below.
General Albums
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Monday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #1
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #2
- 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson – Tuesday #3
WITB Albums
- Pierceson Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kris Kim – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- David Nyfjall – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Adrien Dumont de Chassart – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Jarred Jetter – North Texas PGA Section Champ – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Richy Werenski – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Wesley Bryan – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Parker Coody – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Peter Kuest – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Blaine Hale, Jr. – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Kelly Kraft – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Rico Hoey – WITB – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
Pullout Albums
- Adam Scott’s 2 new custom L.A.B. Golf putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Scotty Cameron putters – 2024 CJ Cup Byron Nelson
- Ben Griffin playing Maxfli golf ball
See what GolfWRXers are saying in the forums.
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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.