The Rising Son — aka Hideki Matsuyama — found himself a whopping five shots behind Russell Henley when the duo made the turn Sunday afternoon at the Sony Open in front of a big, pro-Hideki crowd at birdie-friendly Waialae Country Club.
Knowing Hideki’s abilities and the fact that Henley had converted only one of his previous five 54-hole leads into a win, the five shots probably wasn’t enough.
The Masters champ birdied the 10th to cut it to three then came a two-shot swing at the par three 11th where Henley found the left greenside bunker while Matsuyama was 12 feet away from birdie. A lousy bunker shot led to a Henley bogey and of course Matsuyama made his putt. Three shots off that big lead vanished.
The final twosome basically distanced itself from the rest of the field, leaving Henley to try and hold off Hideki, who put a 63 on the board in the third round. Momentum and huge crowd support for Matsuyama, made it a pure struggle for Henley, who tried his best to hold off one of golf’s best ball-strikers. Problem for Russell was that Matsuyama had the flat-stick working and putting has been Matsuyama’s Achilles Heel — but not at Waialae.
Henley was feeling the heat. Birdies came easily to him for three days but over the final nine there were none. Another 18-footer by Matsuyama at the 15th cut the lead to one and it stayed there as the two reached the par five 18th. It was there that Matsuyama unleased a Tsunami of a drive, crushing it 343-yards. Ouch. Henley apparently got caught in the jet-wash from that monster drive and lost his right, into a bunker. That led to a par, of course Matsuyama made a two-putt birdie and the crowd was in a frenzy.
In the playoff, Matsuyama would come up with a shot that made everyone forget the monster drive that led to the playoff.
Once again it was advantage Hideki on the second trip down 18, Henley missed the fairway again, Matsuyama didn’t. After Henley’s layup, all Hideki did was hit a four-iron from 206 yards out that looked laser-guided. It stopped just three feet from the cup. Obviously rattled and ready to accept his fate, Henley’s third went over the green, his fourth left him 12 feet for par. Of course he missed leaving Hideki to tap in his eagle putt for victory.
It was PGA Tour win number eight for Matsuyama who shot a second straight 63. Sadly, Henley failed to convert a 54-hole lead for the sixth time in his career.
On a side note, Kevin Kisner and Seamus Power tied at 19-under in the battle for third.
No one will be talking about that today.
Those who saw it will talk about that Matsuyama four-iron into 18 for a long time. It was one of those that truly fell into the “spectacular” category.
The drama was compelling. You could see the difference in the two players. Matsuyama had that stare-down, stoic poise of his on full display. Henley looked like a man resigned to his inevitable fate.
Afterward, Hideki admitted “I’m over the moon” happy.” He was also very aware that back in 1983 Isao Aoki won this event when he holed out a wedge shot for eagle at the 18th to stun Jack Renner, making Aoki the first Japanese player to win on the PGA Tour.
More significant was Hideki leading the field in putting last week. Last year, he was a lowly 205th in Strokes Gained Putting.
He’s had three wins in the last 17 months and it looks going forward like he’s going to be a force to be dealt with.
They’ll be happy back in Japan this week as he’s gone from No. 19 into the top 10 in the Official World Golf Rankings.
Domo arigato, Hideki-san.
10 Comments
Neunan
Wasn’t Hideki’s second shot on the playoff hole a 3 wood from 276?? The 4 iron was his second shot in regulation . . . .
Tom Edrington
That is correct….huge drive in regulation 343 — Bryson would have been hard pressed to catch that one and yes, the perfect cut into 18 but it was tough to tell if it was three or five wood, will have to see “what’s in the bag” for Hideki…
baxter cepeda
We had a great day out at Waialae Sunday doing a little volunteering at the First Tee tent before following the final groups.
Tom mention the pro Hideki crowd.
I’m usually fairly impartial —I mean I’m a grown ass man I don’t need to be all rooting for other frown ass men — but this crowd was so pro Hideki I was undercover rooting for Henley all day.
All the way down to that final putt in regulation I believed the past Sony champ would get it done, hushing the crowd quieter than when the Bulldog was introduced on the first tee.
On the other hand they were quite loud when Hideki was introduced. And whenever hideki did anything good. The Hideki factor is fascinating. I don’t even remember Phil or Jack having driven so many people to follow them as much as the Masters champ from Japan is getting lately.
This years Sony crowd lacked a lot of the regulars still hesitant with Covid- probably some anti Vaxers not wanting to compete to get tested to go to a golf tournament — but the crowd was as big as ever thanks to Hidekis techy army.
Really, Arnie, Tiger, and now Hideki as far as crowd factor in the tv era. I get Hawaii has the big Japanese connection but the news still says travel from Japan is way down because of Covid. So it could have been an even bigger Hideki frenzy.
Anyhow I saw the birdie at 10 and then the 2 shot swing at 11 and naturally said “oh oh”.
We watched the last 3 holes on tv at our friends house; me wrongfully predicting to the smaller crowd then usual that Russ would drain it on 18.
Henley lost a lead for the 6th time but this had to be the toughest one to protect; even a 5 shot lead with 9 to play. The crowd was never mean or rude, but the silence for Henley was palpable. The cheers for Hideki gave you chills. Not easy when everyone is against you. Just ask anyone whom ever tried to take down Arnie or Tiger.
Aside from Hideki adding to his legend with a great come from behind win thanks in part to an Eye popping Hideki crowd, the other big take from the Sony was the ROUGH baby!
I’m not buying this story that they couldn’t cut the grass. Yes there were some rains recently but I’m pretty sure they could have put some blades on that common Bermuda, certainly at some point during the week. We were losing small children inside the first tee tent the grass was so long.
But good for the tournament.
If this ‘we couldn’t cut the grass’ story was to test how long rough would do, it did amazing.
The contrast of the rough and fairway alone looked great in person and tv. It looked dramatic but it was playable. It made the players play all the trouble shots we want to see more of: muscle outs, punches, bumps, low hacks, wise layups, run ups, and so much more.
The course was a bit soft early on so scores were still very they Friday but as it got drier the rough started to pay dividends.
I for one really, really hope the rough we saw at Waialae this year remains next year, except maybe the exhibiting area.
Tom Edrington
I had a feeling you’d be there Baxter; Appreciate the first-hand report; OBW, a lot of citizens of Japanese descent in Hawaii so the pro-Hideki crowd was no surprise here. It was a ball-striking mis-match between the two and the fact that Hideki was No. 1 in the field putting, well, you don’t beat him when that happens.
baxter cepeda
Hidekis putting was another big story from Sony. He keeps getting better at it. It’s also amazing he still was t I’m the top 10 but with his flat wand doing magic, how high can he climb?
Yes there is a lot of Japanese descent in Hawaii. It will be interesting if Hideki gets similar crowds following him elsewhere. He is a rock star at Sony. But there are other pga tour towns with plenty of Japanese descendants.
Point is hideki is another level of big time now. A lot of people that were not Japanese descendants were also closely following the Masters champ rooting for him.
Russ made some ball striking mistakes towards the end but it was probably more of a putting mismatch over the weekend. Aside from that bogey on 11, and those misses off the tee in 18, Henley hit it well also. His putter just got quiet over the weekend. While again Hideki gets hotter and hotter with the putter.
More than ever Hideki looks like a potential number 1.
Tom Edrington
Not sure Hideki can get to No. 1, Jon Rahm, Collin and Pat Cantlay will have their say on that…..
baxter cepeda
It won’t be easy. But I really don’t think those 3 are so far ahead of everyone else. Maybe rahm a little. But they are just the guys who have been on good runs lately. Things can change very quickly in this current landscape. IMO.
Tom Edrington
Their consistency is going to make them staples at the top in the near future.
baxter cepeda
They do all have above average consistency and it will continue serving them well.
But I still have questions about Rahms ability to consistently stay cool, Morikawas putting consistency, and not too long ago someone didn’t even have Cantlay on his radar; in part because Pats driver cAn be inconsistent.
There are no Tigers in this generation, much less 3. I’m not saying this 3 will fall off tour and spend their time trolling from their moms basement like Greyson Murray, but if they want to stay on top of the world ranks they will need to keep producing big time in a very, very competitive landscape.
As much as I like all 3 of them, I would probably take the field gaining on them.
Tom Edrington
Spoken like a true Draft Kings customer