BURNING UP FIRESTONE
MATSUYAMA SHOOTS FINAL ROUND 61 TO EARN VICTORY
Hideki Matsuyama posts lowest final round in four decades at venerable Firestone
Hideki Matsuyama warmed up poorly and then turned in the best round of his career at the Bridgestone Invitational, a 9-under 61 that tied the course record and gave him another blowout victory in a World Golf Championship.
It was the lowest final round in four decades at Firestone Country Club and led to a five-shot victory over Zach Johnson.
Matsuyama knew from experience that the course record was a 61 because he was in the same group when Tiger Woods shot 61 in the second round in 2013. All it would take was birdies on the last three holes, and like everything else Sunday, the 25-year-old from Japan made it look easy.
“I knew 61 was the number,” Matsuyama said through his interpreter. “I was thinking about that at 16. I knew if I birdied 16, 17, 18 I could get there.”
He spun a wedge back to four feet on the par-5 16th for birdie. He holed an 8-foot putt on the 17th hole and then closed with another approach and settled six feet away. Matsuyama, who began the final round two shots behind Johnson and Thomas Pieters, finished at 15-under 265.
He now has won two World Golf Championships by a combined 12 shots, having captured the HSBC Champions by seven shots in Shanghai last fall. It was his fifth PGA Tour victory, and third this season, tying him with Dustin Johnson and Jordan Spieth.
Johnson, winless since his British Open victory two years ago at St. Andrews, pulled within one shot with a long birdie putt at the 11th, but he could do no better than pars the rest of the way and shot 68.
Pieters was never in the game after missing 4-foot par putts on successive holes to close out the front nine. He closed with a 71.
Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., shot a 69 to finish the tournament at 7 under and tied for fifth. He began the day three shots back. Mackenzie Hughes (68) of Dundas, Ont., was 9 over for the event.
The only other player with a chance was Charley Hoffman, who also was one shot behind on the back nine. Hoffman was three shots behind on the par-5 16th hole when his caddie suggested laying up because there was no place to get it close by going for the green 282 yards away.
“I’m trying to win a tournament,” Hoffman said. “I’m tired of finishing second.”
He ripped a 3-wood onto the green and over the back into light rough, chipped weakly to 15 feet and made par anyway. He wound up with a 66 to finish third, though it was a big step in trying to make his first Presidents Cup team.
Matsuyama’s final birdie broke by one shot the lowest final round by a winner at Firestone. Fulton Allem shot 62 when he won the old World Series of Golf in 1993.
Matsuyama stays at No. 3 in the world by a fraction behind Spieth, though he takes plenty of momentum into the PGA Championship next week as he tries to become the first player from Japan to win a major.