Matsuyama prevails after Fowler falters
Hideki Matsuyama was all smiles after winning the Waste Management Phoenix Open on Sunday.
Rickie Fowler broke down in tears.
Taking advantage of two mistakes by Fowler on the par-4, 317yard 17th hole and overcoming the pro-Fowler crowd, Matsuyama parred the fourth playoff hole to win the tournament that drew a record 618,365 to TPC Scottsdale for the week.
With the victory, Matsuyama, who will move up from his world ranking of 19, put himself back in the conversation concerning the game’s best young players. The Japanese 23-year-old, who has plenty of firepower and game to be a major presence on the PGA Tour for years to come, birdied the final two holes in regulation to force the playoff with Fowler.
The players exchanged pars on the first playoff hole, birdies on the second and pars on the third before Matsuyama put his foe away with a par putt from 2 feet on the fourth extra hole (the 17th).
“I struggled all week with my game, but it really came around today. And I was really pleased that it did,” said Matsuyama, who hadn’t won on the PGA Tour since the 2014 Memorial and has eight worldwide wins. “I’m really happy that I won. Surprised and sad that Rickie finished that way, but all I can do is my best, and I was lucky to come out on top.
“I’m really happy. Really, really happy with the win. It’s been awhile since the first one.”
Fowler, who will remain No. 4 in the world, wasn’t happy at the end of play. Trying to win his fifth worldwide title in the last nine months and edge closer to the socalled Big Three of Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day, Fowler held a two-shot lead on the 71st hole. Instead of laying up, he used a driver on the 17th and knocked his ball into the water over the green, made bogey and saw his lead vanish.
“On 17, it was 304 front and then we had an extra, it’s like 26 or, I don’t know, there’s 30-some yards until the back bunker. It’s 330-plus. I’m hitting a chip-cut driver. Usually don’t expect it to hit on the downslope and then go 360,” Fowler said. “So that was a bit unfortunate. I hit it right on line, hit it exactly where I was looking. That’s kind of the unfor- tunate part to hit the shots that I did and to pull them off and then it kind of backfired there. Hit a perfect shot.”
Fowler dug deep and birdied the 72nd hole from 9 feet to get into a playoff after Matsuyama drained his 15-footer for birdie. Then Fowler birdied the second extra hole (the 18th) from 14 feet right before Matsuyama made his 14-footer for birdie.
But after knocking in a 12-footer for par on the third playoff hole, Fowler drove his ball into the water again on the 17th — this time using a 3-wood — and made bogey.
“This one hurts,” Fowler said. “I felt like I had it, especially with the way I was swinging.”
When asked 30 seconds later how long it would take to get over the loss, tears formed and Fowler had a hard time talking.
“I mean, the hard part is having all my friends and family … and Grandpa and my dad who haven’t seen me win,” Fowler said. “But I will be able to kind of hang with them tonight.
“I’ll be all right. With how good I’m playing, I know I can win.”
The two each started the day three strokes behind leader Danny Lee, and each shot 4-under-par 67 and birdied the 72nd hole to finish at 14 under and go to extra holes.
Lee shot 73 to finish in fourth, three shots behind. Harris English fired 66 to finish two back in third.
“Winning my second tournament on the PGA Tour was my utmost goal for this year, so now I’m going to go home tonight and rethink the next goal,” Matsuyama said. That might include chasing down the Big Three and Fowler.
“Those four have set the bar so high, and that’s what motivates me to practice harder and practice more, to be able to keep up with them,” Matsuyama said.