Furious finish
Hideki Matsuyama shoots 61 to win the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by 5 shots,
Late last year, Hideki Matsuyama looked like a world beater.
He has that look about him again.
Matsuyama broke out of a high-powered shootout Sunday at Firestone Country Club with a course record-tying, 9-under-par 61 to turn a nail-biter into a rout to win the World Golf Championships-Bridgestone Invitational by five shots. Matsuyama didn’t have a bogey on his card, chipped in for eagle on the second hole and made seven birdies after that to join Jose Maria Olazabal, Tiger Woods (twice) and Sergio Garcia as the only players to tour the tight South Course in 61 shots.
“I did play with Tiger four years ago, watched him shoot 61. I just couldn’t believe it that anyone could shoot a 61 on this golf course,” Matsuyama said through an interpreter. “And then from that point, to work hard and to be able to do it today is a dream come true.”
With rounds of 69-67-67-61, Matsuyama finished at 16 under, five shots clear of Zach Johnson, who shared the 54-hole lead with Thomas Pieters and shot 68 Sunday. Charley Hoffman, who lost in a playoff last week in the RBC Canadian Open, shot 66 to finish six back in third place. Pieters shot 71 and finished eight shots back. Nine shots behind were four players, including Rory McIlroy, who hit 53 drives that exceeded 300 yards during his four rounds.
But no one overpowered the entire course like Matsuyama, who won his fifth PGA Tour title and third this season. But of all the brilliant shots he hit, it turned out an errant tee shot turned his day around.
“Last night after the round, I went to the range and hit it really well and had a lot of confidence. Then I came to the golf course this morning, and I don’t know where it went,” he said. “It was probably the worst warm-up I’ve ever had on a tournament that I’ve won. I was shocked, and the first tee shot showed it. I hit it left, but something about that shot, something clicked, and from that point on I was able to find it again.”
Early in the final round four players held at least a share of the lead before Matsuyama took it for good with a birdie on the ninth to close out a front-nine 30. He added a birdie on the 13th and then finished with birdies on the final three holes to burst away.
“Once he gets going, he just keeps the hammer down and keeps it going,” McIlroy said of Matsuyama. “It’s very impressive. Great player, great young player.”
Matsuyama remains the No. 3 player in the world, but at times has looked clearly the best. In one stretch late last year, he won four events around the world and finished second in two others. Among his victories was the WGC-HSBC Champions.
But this is his first victory since capturing the Waste Management Phoenix Open six months ago. It’s not that his game deserted him — he was runner-up in the U.S. Open and made a strong run in the British Open — but after what he did at the tail end of 2016, he expected more of himself.
“It’s tough to be able to putt well and hit good golf shots all at the same time. Even after that good run, I hoped I could continue on, but it didn’t happen and I was hoping to do better,” he said. “But this week, the mental aspect of the game played a big part in my victory. I was able to control my emotions.”
It worked out just fine. He and world No. 1 Dustin Johnson swept the WGC events this season, with Matsuyama winning the first and last and Johnson winning the Mexico Championship and the Dell Technologies Match Play.
Now Matsuyama will try to become the first from Japan to win a major championship this week at the PGA Championship at Quail Hollow in Charlotte. He has played Quail Hollow three times during the Wells Fargo Championship, with a tie for 11th in 2016 his best finish.
“All I can do is my best at a major. … My expectations really at the beginning of this week weren’t that high, and here we are,” he said. “Maybe I’ll try that next week, just not have too high of an expectation, not set the bar too high, and hopefully we’ll have a good outcome.”