Even during this week at the Zozo, as Morikawa moved into contention, he downplayed what it might mean for him to win in Japan. “Look,” he said, “a win’s a win. I’ll take it anywhere, right?”

Spoken like a man who hadn’t lifted a trophy on the PGA Tour since July 2021, when the 26-year-old captured his second major in his inaugural Open Championship start at Royal St George’s. Morikawa also won the DP World Tour Championship late in ’21, but since then had some big misses on Sundays, with four runners-up, including blowing a six-shot lead at the 2023 season-opening Sentry Tournament of Champions and falling over the summer in a playoff in the Rocket Mortgage Classic, where Rickie Fowler ended his own long dry spell.

As it turned out, Morikawa’s six-shot victory on Sunday in the Zozo — forged with a nearly flawless seven-under 63 as much of America slept — created deep satisfaction for the World No. 20 on numerous levels. He snapped his winless streak in his last official tour start of ’23, created tremendous confidence heading into the new year and cemented his standing as yet another hero in Japan golf.

Consider the small island country’s golf bounty of late: Tiger Woods won the inaugural Zozo Championship in 2019 for his record-tying 82nd tour victory; Hideki Matsuyama captured the 2021 Masters, and later that year Xander Schauffele, with Japanese heritage, won the gold medal in the 2021 Tokyo Olympics. And then Matusyama seized the 2021 Zozo in its return to his home country after the pandemic.

A player of Morikawa’s stature again winning the Zozo only further sollidfies the touranment’s worldwide standing.

“This means the world,” Morikawa of his sixth PGA Tour win, not meaning to create a pun, though he has now won tournaments in England, Dubai and Japan, as well as California, Ohio and Florida.

“It feels so good. I can’t even explain it,” added Morikawa, whose 14-under total, after starting the final round two strokes back, bested the runners-up at eight under, Beau Hossler (70) and Eric Cole (70). “I knew I was going to get here at some point. It’s like getting your first win, your first major, whatever … people start asking questions, they start asking the ‘why.’ I really had to look back and ask myself what’s wrong. What is the ‘why’? What’s the reason behind finishing second or fifth versus a win.”

Some would say the troubles continued to be with Morikawa’s putting. A superior ball-striker who ranked second in Strokes Gained/Approach heading into this week, Morikawa has always been a streaky putter, and this year was no different. He entered the Zozo ranked 112th in SG/putting, losing 0.109 strokes to the field per round.

On Wednesday this week, he went straight from his pro-am round to the practice green, where Morikawa said he spent more than two hours “grinding” on his putting. “Just trying to figure out how to read these greens,” he said on Sunday. “How to get a little more consistency, take out a few variables. Texted a couple of buddies on certain little things, and it was nice to see it click like that.”

Click it did, with Morikawa draining a field-best 24 birdies while ranking second in putts per green in regulation. That, combined with tying for third in GIR (73.61 per cent), and it was one of those weeks that Morikawa seemed destined to dominate.

After opening with a 64, but then struggling to a 73 in the wind-blown second round, Morikawa did have an early stumble on Saturday. He drove next to a tree on the first hole and had to punch out in eventually suffering a double bogey. After another bogey with a three-putt at No. 4, Morikawa was nine shots off the lead.

But over the final 32 holes, he shot 14 under in a stretch that included him closing with five birdies over his last six holes in a third-round 66. On Sunday, Morikawa seized control with four birdies on a front nine of 30 and cruised in with three more birdies, including one very satisfying roll into the cup on the last.

“It just got to the point today, if I put good speed on it, the ball is going to have a great chance to go into the hole,” Morikawa said.

It doesn’t get much better than finishing the year on such a high note. Morikawa’s wife, Katherine Zhu, stood quietly at greenside with a smile on her face as he finished up. The couple are approaching their one-year wedding anniversary on Nov. 26 and plan to spend a couple of weeks on vacation.

At some point, they may happily hum the Imagine Dragons tune played as their wedding processional. It’s called “On Top of the World.”

Main image: Yoshimasa Nakano

The post Collin Morikawa halts winless string with stunning Sunday and six-shot win in Zozo appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The headline of Fowler’s fall, of course, is that he’s back with Butch Harmon, having jettisoned his coach of three years, John Tillery, after falling into the World Ranking abyss (he starts this week No. 160 in the OWGR). He’s got a new caddie, too, longtime tour looper Ricky Romano, along with a new set of irons. The full makeover treated him well at the Narashino Country Club.

“It’s always nice to have a clean card,” Fowler said. “I think that was the biggest difference from yesterday to today. Obviously not as much moisture, we had a nice dry day, but on top of that, for me, just kind of cleaning up the card and managed my way around really nicely today.”

That’s an understatement. Fowler made birdie on four of his first eight holes, and just when he seemed to be in cruise control, he made a final surge to close with two more birdies, finishing at seven under for the day and tying Putnam atop the leaderboard. He was particularly strong on the par 3s, carding three birdies on the five short holes, highlighting his improved iron play.

Rolling it ?@RickieFowler gets to -10 and a tie for the lead @ZOZOCHAMP. pic.twitter.com/IDbPXNKtgn

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 14, 2022

Despite the low number, though, Fowler wasn’t exactly ebullient about the technical side of his game.

“The last two days I wasn’t exactly swinging it great,” said Fowler, who is holding a 36-hole lead on the PGA Tour for the 11th time in his career and the first since the 2020 American Express (we won’t remind him he’s only won one of the previous 10). “I kind of did a good job of managing my way around. I’ll get some work in tomorrow before the round and try and exaggerate a few things where I’m a little bit tighter in lines and flights that I want.”

Fowler’s maternal grandfather, Yutaka, is Japanese by birth, and Fowler has long felt an affinity for Japan. Prior to the tournament, he spoke of his excitement at experiencing Tokyo culture again with fewer pandemic restrictions. He singled out the food, which included meals of sushi and ramen to start the week. But though he’s won in South Korea (back in 2011, at the Korea Open), he’s never broken through in Japan, and he’ll try to change that this year.

The swing changes he and Harmon have made give him a fighting chance.

“It’s kind of a combo of old and new,” he explained before the tournament. “I feel like the last three years with Tillery has put me actually in a very good position to make some little changes and I have … a great foundation. Unfortunately, the play over the last few years didn’t really reflect that and so that was a bummer that it just really wasn’t working out.”

Among the big things Fowler has worked on with Harmon, including some time last week in Las Vegas after missing the cut at the Shriners Children’s Open, is keeping a steeper left arm plane. Fowler says that ultimately gets his hands higher at the top and the club in a better position. “[It] gives me more room and space and makes the swing a bit more efficient.”

It’s worked so far, and Fowler knows he’ll have to continue going low to nab his first tournament win since 2019, the year Harmon cut down on his tournament travel and the two split. Fowler’s prescription for doing so is simple — drive well, and play it from the fairway.

As for Putnam, he hasn’t made a bogey in 36 holes, and with his birdie on 18, he briefly set the course record.

“Putter’s heating up,” he said. “This course feels a lot like home, northwest golf. Obviously, the clouds, I’m used to that, a lot of trees, and greens are rolling really smooth, so feel pretty comfortable out here.”

Beautiful approach.
Brutal lip-out.
Birdie for a new course record.@AndrewPutnam1 goes low to take the lead @ZOZOCHAMP. pic.twitter.com/L2Eq7GGMn5

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 14, 2022

Unfortunately for him, he held the course record for perhaps the shortest time ever. Less than two hours later, John Huh finished with a 61, highlighted by six birdies in a front-nine 28. For Huh, a 59 was a real possibility, but he was content to “settle” for the course record — “nine [under] is good enough, I think, for me,” he joked.

Putnam and Fowler will be joined in Saturday’s final threesome by Keegan Bradley, another player trying to reach his former heights. Bradley carded a 65 on Friday to follow his opening 66, and at 9-under he trails by just a stroke. He was particularly happy to make birdie on 9 and 17, two of the toughest holes at the Zozo.

“I just played perfect today,” he said. “It’s one of the best rounds of the year, this whole year. That was great. I had a lot of fun out there and it’s just very stress-free, which is always good. … Man, I’m excited.”

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The post Rickie Fowler nearly shoots career-best PGA Tour score, tied for 36-hole lead at Zozo Championship appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

The 29-year-old won the ACC back-to-back in 2010 and 2011 and has gone on to achieve reasonable things a decade later; a green jacket as reigning Masters champion and a seventh PGA Tour title as the freshly-minted Zozo Championship winner.

Invites to April’s Masters tournament at Augusta National and the 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews next July will again be the huge lure for players hoping to emulate Matsuyama at the 12th edition of the ACC at Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club this month.

A place in amateur folklore also beckons for Yuxin Lin who will attempt to defend the title he won in a playoff at Sheshan International Golf Club in Shanghai in 2019 (the tournament was cancelled last year due to COVID-19). The 21-year-old Chinese player will attempt to distance himself from Matsuyama as the most successful player in AAC history after also winning the title at Royal Wellington in New Zealand in 2017.

“It would be a dream come true if I can win the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship for a third time,” said Lin, a University of Florida junior who is no stranger to UAE conditions having finished tied for 30th in the European Tour’s Abu Dhabi Championship last year.

“To already be placed in the same bracket as Hideki Matsuyama as a two-time champion is surreal so to get one ahead would be amazing.”

“It is the biggest tournament in our part of the world and I know how much the players will be eager to get their hands on the trophy. It is an incredible opportunity to gain an invitation to the Masters and a place in The 150th Open at St Andrews next year. It will be a tough task but I will give it my best shot.”

MORE: Cambodian golfer represents big dreams of competitors in the Asia-Pacific Amateur

The Beijing left-hander won’t have it easy at The Creek.

Japan’s Keita Nakajima is the world amateur No.1 and has been an unstoppable force in his home country. In his last three starts, he has won the Japan Amateur Championship, followed by triumph at the Panasonic Open against a quality field of professionals on the Japan Golf Tour.

“I want to be with Hideki san when he defends his Masters title next year so this is my best chance to fulfil that dream.”
– Japan’s World No.1 Keita Nakajima

Nakajima, who came close to winning the AAC in 2018 in Singapore when he was a co-leader going into the final round but his fine 67 was upstaged by compatriot and best friend Takumi Kanaya (65), won the Mark McCormack Medal in August for being the top-ranked amateur in the world. He took over the number one position from Kanaya after the latter turned professional in 2020.

With most amateur tournaments in the Asia-Pacific region cancelled due to the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, the 21-year-old Nippon Sport Science University student has relied on playing against professionals in the last couple of years. Apart from his recent Panasonic Open win, he also finished second in the Token Homemate Cup in April (finishing one stroke behind Kanaya) and third in last year’s Mitsui Sumitomo Taiheiyo Masters.

Nakajima, who said he cried on the day Kanaya decided to turn professional, added: “I’m an amateur who is at college, so it is an honour that I get the chance to play against the professionals. I feel it provides me with a great challenge to compete against them and that it has helped me become a better player.

“Of course, my confidence is high because of the win but I know I will still have to play at my best in Dubai to be in contention on the final day. I want to be with Hideki san when he defends his Masters title next year so this is my best chance to fulfil that dream and get to play alongside him at Augusta National Golf Club,” added Nakajima who is already assured of a place at The Open next year and the U.S. Open as a result of winning the McCormack Medal.

UAE No.1 Ahmad Skaik has secured a spot in the field along with compatriots Khalid Yousuf, Khalifa Al Masaood and Rashid Al Emadi, while Arkesh Bhatia, another big name on the UAE scene, will be representing India.

[divider] [/divider]

What: 12th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (ACC)
Where: Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club
When: Nov. 3-6

The post Hideki’s Legacy inspires as 12th Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship begins at Dubai Creek appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Tod Leonard
The narrative predictably fades with time, and though we’re only six months removed from Hideki Matsyama’s historic win in the Masters, it’s probably already forgotten that the Japanese star was on the precipice of a monumental collapse at Augusta National.

Matsuyama led by four heading into the final round in April, lengthened the margin to six shots at the turn, and yet, in a display of nerves served up with some unnecessary bravado, he nearly gave away that green jacket with three bogeys over the last four holes.

Of course, Matsuyama held on to win by one shot over Masters rookie Will Zalatoris, and what we most remember is his tearful celebration and the massive impact his victory, as the first Japanese male to win a major, had at home.

One had to wonder if that back-nine drama at Augusta served as motivation for Matsuyama on an October Sunday in the only PGA Tour event staged in Japan, the Zozo Championship. Facing enormous expectations and support from the 5,000 fans who attended each day at Narashino Country Club outside Tokyo, Matsuyama entered the final round with a one-shot lead—and then it was gone by the 10th hole.

American journeyman Cameron Tringale, quietly determined behind his dark sunglasses to finally earn a PGA Tour win in his 314th start, seized the solo lead with back-to-back birdies at 9 and 10.

Matsuyama’s response was as ferocious as it was beautiful to watch. There was no timidity for the 29-year-old this time as he produced one spectacular answer after another, making three birdies and an eagle over the last eight holes to close with a five-under-par 65.

The last 15 minutes were good theater. With only a two-shot margin standing on the 18th tee, Matsuyama blasted a drive into the short grass and followed with a fairway wood from 241 yards, the ball seeking out the flag and nearly dunking in for an albatross. He then dramatically converted the eagle and thrust both arms in the air.

Matsuyama, whose comments on the win for international reporters were limited to his on-camera interview, said through an interpreter, “It’s just great to be able to play in front of so many fans here in Japan and to be able to play well. I’m thrilled.”

That is clearly an understatement. While Matsuyama won eight times in Japan, including as 2011 victory as a an amateur, this is his first PGA Tour triumph at home. It also eases the disappointment of not earning a medal in the summer’s Tokyo Olympics. Matsuyama now has seven PGA Tour wins, spannning eight years.

Atsushi Tomura
Hideki Matsuyama hits his tee shot on the sixth hole during the final round of the Zozo Championship.

After opening the tournament with a 64, followed by a pair of 68s, Matsuyama finished at 15-under 265, five shots better than runners-up Tringale (69) and Brendan Steele (66). The winning total was one shot off the 16-under showing he had in the inaugural Zozo in 2019, when Matsuyama was second by three shots to Tiger Woods, whose win matched Sam Snead’s all-time tour record with 82 victories.

“I must revenge here next year,” Matsuyama said at the time of that loss. “He is coming back, and I will be here.”

Of course, the return to Japan didn’t happen in 2020 because of the worldwide coronavirus pandemic, and the rematch didn’t have as much juice when the Zozo was repositioned for Southern California. Matsuyama tied for 28th at Sherwood Country Club and it was a hollow besting of Woods, who was well off form and finished 12 shots behind the Japanese native.

Sadly, Woods hasn’t been on hand for either of Matsuyama’s latest milestone wins as he recovers from his car accident in February.

After carrying an “underachiever” label in the early years of his career—despite eight victories on the Japan Tour and five on the PGA Tour entering this season—Matsuyama is drawing fervent admiration and some awe with the completeness of his game. His No. 10 World Ranking will get another boost, and there were loads of style points in the Zozo. Always known as a superb iron player, Matsuyama is a beast with fairway clubs, too. He got to pin-high in two shots on the 608-yard 14th (an eventual par) and produced the spectacular approach into 18.

Putting has been a bugaboo, but when he has weeks like those in the Masters and Zozo, Matsuyama seems unstoppable. The stroke that spurred his back-nine charge on Sunday was a curving 35-foot putt that dropped at perfect speed for birdie and answered Tringale’s brief run at him. He made another nervy 15-footer at the par-4 15th.

“Shoot, I don’t really know his game,” Tringale said afterward. “He seemed a little off just based off watching his reactions and things to shots, but he hung in there. The crowd loved him. He’s very focused, pretty stoic, and it ended up working out for him.”

Tringale, 34, played impressively all week, but in the end he paid for the chances he took in chasing Matsuyama. Tringale spent a lot of cash with bogeys on the 17th and 18th holes, allowing Steele to tie him for second.

“Just continuing to learn, playing, getting myself in more of these positions,” Tringale said. “At least I was in it to some degree on the back nine. And yeah, I felt comfortable. I feel like I keep getting more comfortable and I’m more excited about continuing to be in that position.”

Tringale interacted with the fans all week, saying he was trying to reflect their warmth and positivity. He had one of the best views in the house of Matsuyama’s celebration with the fans who have come to so revere him.

“To really slam the door and hit an incredible second shot and hole the putt [at 18], it was storybook,” Tringale said. “It was cool.”

The post Hideki Matsuyama’s Zozo win is very different from the Masters, but just as impressive appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Tod Leonard
The Golf Channel did something savvy this week. With undoubtedly smaller broadcast audiences because most of the U.S. has been asleep during the heart of play at the Zozo Championship outside Tokyo, the network took a bit of a leap by rotating in players after their rounds. Rickie Fowler was the first guest, followed by Charley Hoffman during the second round, and then the ever-colourful Pat Perez on Saturday.

Perez came through by providing some keen insight into the task Hideki Matsuyama faces as the Masters champion and now sporting icon tries to close out a victory on home soil in the Zozo Championship.

“I played behind Hideki [on Friday], and it’s like seeing Elvis,” Perez said.

With another solid round on Sunday (Japan time), Matsuyama will have the chance to deliver the kind of triumph that his now legion of fans will talk about for the rest of their lives. In April, he became the first Japanese player to capture the Masters, but there was also deep disappointment when he couldn’t bookend that in the Olympics, where Matsuyama lost in the playoff for bronze.

Thousands of adoring Japanese golf fans are following the 29-year-old around every hole at the tree-lined and pristine Narashino Country Club. Yet, remarkably, he has hardly showed any nerves. On a clear and breezy Saturday following Friday’s frigid round, Matsuyama shot a second-straight two-under 68 to get to 10 under and take a one-shot lead over Cameron Tringale.

The margin would have been two, but Matsuyama suffered a rare terrible miss from the 18th tee, hooking his ball so badly it ended up jailed in the adjacent fairway. From there, he eventually was short of the green on his third shot and went on to make bogey.

Still, Matsuyama would seem to be a happy frontrunner. In two appearances now in the Zozo in Japan since the event was inaugurated in 2019 (it was moved to Sherwood Country Club in 2020 because of the pandemic), Matsuyama hasn’t shot worse than 68. And this course isn’t going to yield a 62 like Collin Morikawa shot last week in challenging winner Rory McIlroy in Vegas.

After Matsuyama striped his tee shot on the par-3 16th to short-range—an opportunity he would convert for birdie—Perez grunted in the booth and said, “That’s just going to be hard to catch. He knows what he’s doing. He’s a phenomenal player.”

More than his play, Perez marvels at the way Matsuyama handles all of the attention that comes his way.

“He has so many cameras around him all of the time,” Perez said. “I tried to say hello. I told him I don’t know how you deal with the cameras all of the time. He said, ‘I pull my hair out sometimes.’ … He’s had it for so many years now. It’s second nature to him. I can’t believe being the guy he is in the country right now. Everybody wants him to win. And here he is leading. And the pressure … it doesn’t look like it phases him at all.”

Here are three other takeaways from Round 3 of the Zozo.

Tringale soaking up the challenge

Atsushi Tomura
Cameron Tringale hits his tee shot on the 10th hole during the third round of the Zozo Championship.

There’s one player who will have the best shot at catching Matsuyama, and that’s the 34-year-old Tringale. He’ll be grouped with Matsuyama for a second straight day after matching him with a 68 in the third round.

Tringale is clearly enjoying the fight. He appeared to be a man trying to make lifelong friends, waving and giving a thumbs up so much that the announcers joked that he was channelling Phil Mickelson.

“I’m not obviously going to win anyone over, but I’m just enjoying the moment,” Tringale said. “The crowds are really respectful and fun and happy, so I’m trying to mirror that back to them and let them know I’m enjoying being here.”

This is yet another shot for Tringale to earn his first tour win. This is his 314th start, and he’s earned more money than any other player without a victory. Three more shots behind him on the board are Sebastian Munoz, Brendan Steele and Matt Wallace. Perhaps the pressure and expectations being squarely on Matsuyama’s shoulders on Sunday will help Tringale in his latest pursuit of a victory.

Morikawa actually suffered the dreaded S-word

Atsushi Tomura
Collin Morikawa stands on the fourth tee during the third round of the Zozo Championship.

Morikawa could have begun his press briefing by discussing his best shot of the day—his chip-in on the 18th hole that polished off a three-under 67 that put him in eighth, six shots off Matsuyama’s pace.

Instead, Morikawa—ever honest and self-effacing—started his interview with one of the most shocking shots he’s hit as a pro. He didn’t even have to talk about it, mind you, since it was too early in the television coverage for anybody to have caught it. We’ll let the reigning Open Championship winner describe it …

“Well, I did something in my career that I haven’t done yet, [which] was shank a shot,” Morikawa said. “I don’t think many people know this. I was in the middle of the fairway on 6, the par 5. … Yeah, shanked a pitching wedge straight in the trees. So really good way to start the day after being one under through five.”

Hackers rejoice. The S-word can happen to the best of them. Morikawa bogeyed 6 and had to battle through a round that really only looked respectable because, after missing the green pin-high at 18, he chipped in for an eagle 3.

This was decidedly not one of those rounds when one of the world’s best ball-strikers was sending missles at the pins.

“It was kind of a grind,” Morikawa said. “I really had no clue where the ball was going to go. I was kind of just trying to make contact and, thankfully, the putting was working today.”

Perez comes through with a comical Charles Barkley story
Putting Perez on the air with a live mic was seemingly as bold as Roy Kent being tabbed as a TV pundit on “Ted Lasso.” Roy proceeded to toss blue insults all around, causing his studio partners to cringe. Perez can be hilarious, but away from the cameras he’s not exactly PG-rated. So kudos to Golf Channel for giving him a shot, even if it meant some guy in the production truck had his finger poised an inch above the delay button, ready to strike at the first f—.

Perez turned out to be a predictably colorful guest, even if his mood was not the best after a third-round 73 that concluded with a bogey. He provided details about the coiffing of his mullet and shared a funny story of the text he got early Saturday morning from Charles Barkley: “He texted me, ‘Did you retire? I haven’t seen your name on the leader board. And if you did retire, let me know so I can buy you a gift.’ “

Perez chuckled. “I might just take the gift anyway,” he said.

Perez, 45, said he soon will make his 500th start on the PGA Tour in a career in which he’s won three times and never lost his card.

“If you had told me at 22 that I’d have three wins, 500 starts, and not lose my card, that I’ve had that kind of career, I think I would have taken it,” Perez said.

The post Japan’s golfing ‘Elvis’ in control at Zozo, Morikawa suffers the S-word and Pat Perez is predictably funny in the booth appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
Hiroshi Iwata is leading the PGA Tour’s Zozo Championship, and he’s leading thanks to a sign of disrespect.

After turning in a seven-under 63 Thursday at Narashino C.C. in Chiba, Japan—a score good enough for a one-stroke lead over reigning Masters champ Hideki Matsuyama and rising star Joaquin Niemann—Iwata was asked if his position changes his mindset for the second round. Curiously, Iwata said he was hoping he doesn’t get extra attention, at least any attention that could distract from his game, before alluding to an incident that happened earlier in the week.

The incident? Take it away, Hiroshi:

“Someone asked me if I was a caddie when I was having a meal,” Iwata explained.

Which, in the golf ecoystem, is like a child getting scolded at Thanksgiving for trying to eat with the adults.

Granted, Iwata is not exactly a known entity in the United States—although he did tie the major championship record for lowest round with a 63 at Whistling Straits during the 2015 PGA Championship. But the Zozo event is in Japan, Iwata’s homeland, where he’s won three times on the Japan Golf Tour (including earlier most recently in May). That is a serious case of game failing to recognise game.

“Events like that would get you more fired up to play well than someone giving you compliments,” Iwata said. “I don’t want to get into the details but this person was not a player.”

Listen, athletes making mountains out of mole hills strictly to have the proverbial chip on their shoulder is nothing new; heck, Brooks Koepka is carving out a Hall of Fame career off slights, real and perceived. But in Iwata’s case, the slight is very, very real.

The only solace: Should he hang in contention heading into the weekend, you better believe people will know Hiroshi Iwata’s name.

The post PGA Tour player asked if he’s a caddie, promptly shoots 63 after sign of disrespect appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Ryan Herrington
It wasn’t relief in Rory McIlroy’s voice, but something akin to it. After a frustrating start to the Zozo Championship on Thursday—as evidence by a very visible club snap en route to a one-over 73—the final three days at Sherwood Country Club had been more to the Northern Irishman’s liking.

Matching 67s on Friday and Saturday were followed by a Sunday 66 that including a run of five birdies in six holes to start the back nine. It also offered enough evidence that McIlroy’s swing was in good enough shape that his plan to make Zozo the last competitive appearance before next month’s Masters still made sense.

“Look, game’s there, hitting plenty of good shots, giving myself plenty of chances,” McIlroy said after finishing T-17, eight strokes back of winner Patrick Cantlay. “Obviously it’s a pretty easy golf course as the scores suggest this week, but I felt like I played pretty good the last three days. Game is definitely feeling better more than it did when I headed out here.”

Indeed, McIlroy made 29 birdies on the week, his career-best in a PGA Tour start. And he was very aware of that fact, as evidence by his disappointment with missing a 43-footer on the final hole that would have given him an even 30.

More importantly, by Sunday, the big numbers that offset those birdies had seemed to fade. “I think it’s easier to eradicate bogeys than it is to find birdies,” he said.

McIlroy says that will be the focus—limiting the mistakes—over the next two weeks as he makes his final preparations for his 12th career appearance at Augusta National. He says that he intends to make at least one visit to the club, likely staying overnight, ahead of the tournament to get the lay of the land as he joins his peers in trying to prep for a Masters unlike anything anyone has experienced.

In an ordinary year, the build-up to Augusta is unhindered, anticipation bubbling over weeks and months as winter turns into spring and a nine-month wait for the next major makes everyone restless. But in 2020, with the COVID-19 pandemic throwing the schedule asunder and the most recent major only a month removed, the expectancy is different. And the newness of it all is something McIlroy seems to have come to embrace.

“I like this more,” he said. “There’s not as much hype, not as much, yeah, just noise. I sort of like this better, yeah.”

Mind you, the run-up to the Masters is always something that McIlroy will view differently than others. He arrives each year at Augusta under unique circumstances given that a victory would complete the career Grand Slam. With less time to focus—or dwell on—the historic significance of the event, perhaps it will free up McIlroy, who has had four top-10 finishes in the event since 2015, the first year a win would have capped the Slam.

Where McIlroy is more like his peers is seeing the upcoming Masters as the cumulation of the craziest year of their professional lives.

“Everyone’s just trying to end their year on a high note and take a bit of time off, enjoy the holidays and come back in the new year.”

A new year in which McIlroy hopes he doesn’t have to face an old question when the Masters rolls around again next April.

The post Why Rory McIlroy’s attitude might be the best it’s ever been heading into the Masters appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Joel Beall
For the third time in 2020 and second instance since the tour’s pandemic restart Justin Thomas failed to convert a 54-hole lead into a win, his final-round 69 coming up a stroke short of Patrick Cantlay at the Zozo Championship. Granted, it’s not like Thomas has been in the wilderness; in the past calendar year the 27-year-old has three wins and 12 top-10s in 21 starts. It’s also unfair to say he’s struggling to close, as he ranked seventh in final-round scoring last season.

Conversely, the former PGA champ has been one of the more outspoken players over the past five months on the effects of playing without fans, saying the majors didn’t feel like majors and that he’s struggled with his adrenaline playing without galleries. Following an adventurous back nine at Sherwood Sunday, Thomas conceded the lack of fans continues to throw him curveballs.

“I’ve got to find a way to kind of just stay a little bit more focused out there,” Thomas said. “It’s crazy, but sometimes it’s hard to just kind of keep the killer instinct and stay in the zone when it’s as quiet as it is out there.”

To be clear, Thomas was not using the quiet confines as the sole excuse. “You could say a lot of things,” Thomas said when asked about why he wasn’t able to convert a 54-hole lead for the ninth time in 14 career tries. “Making one birdie my last 12 holes out here, shooting even par on the back nine, playing the par 5s one under, you can name a lot of things.”

Nevertheless, it’s also clear that Thomas enjoys being the man in the arena, and with that arena empty (at least on property), Thomas hasn’t been able to fully recalibrate his approach.

“It’s tough, but we’re all dealing with it and I just have to find a little bit better way with how to cope with that here in the next couple weeks because I’ve got a huge event on a course that I love,” Thomas said.

That would be Augusta National, which is hosting the Masters begin on Nov. 12. Though the green jacket will be awarded this year without patrons present, there is some hope for Thomas on the spectator front. Starting this week at the Bermuda Championship, the PGA Tour is allowing a limited number of fans to return.

The post Justin Thomas says it’s hard to keep “killer instinct” without fans appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

By Brian Wacker
Jon Rahm reached No. 1 in the world for the first time in his career in August. His reign lasted just two weeks, though, with Justin Thomas unseating him following a victory at the WGC-St. Jude Invitational.

Sunday at the Zozo Championship, Rahm had a chance to reclaim the top spot in the Official World Golf Ranking and replace current No. 1 Dustin Johnson. All he had to do was win or finish second alone.

Instead, Thomas got in the way. Again.

Trailing Thomas by a stroke at the start of the final round at Sherwood Country Club, Rahm arrived at the 72nd hole one behind clubhouse leader Patrick Cantlay. Needing to make birdie on the par-4 home hole to force a playoff with Cantlay, Rahm split the fairway and hit his approach to inside 20 feet.

But the birdie putt peeled off, never touching the hole, and Rahm settled for par to finish one back.

The salt in the wound didn’t end there, though, for the 25-year-old Spaniard.

Thomas, who played alongside Rahm in the day’s final group, had stuck his approach on the final hole to four feet, thus setting up an easy birdie that meant he’d grab a share of second. So on top of not winning, Rahm also won’t be moving back to No. 1 in the world, either.

At least not this week.

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It should come as no surprise, then, that while two of the world’s top three players duked it out in what felt like the main event, the laconic Californian was content to tip-toe his way up the leader board Sunday at the relocated Zozo Championship.

In the end, he could not be ignored. Cantlay leapfrogged Justin Thomas and Jon Rahm with a thoroughly impressive 65 on Sunday at Sherwood, good for 23-under 265 total and a one-shot victory.

It’s the 27-year-old’s third PGA Tour victory and his first in his home state. Cantlay grew up a 90-minute drive down the coast in Long Beach and played two years at UCLA, where he reached No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Mind you, the Zozo was being played at Sherwood for this one time, the COVID-19 pandemic forcing PGA Tour officials to move the Japan-based tournament to the U.S. due to travel restrictions.

“It’s really great to win at home,” Cantlay said, never one to waste words. “I look forward to hopefully winning at Riviera, and anytime you win close to home it just feels a little sweeter. I felt comfortable all week. I like this cloudy California weather, I’m used to it, it’s what I grew up with. It was just a nice week.”

Cantlay started Sunday three shots behind Thomas—further back than he’d like to be, for sure, but well within striking distance on one of the easier PGA Tour setups in recent memory. Sherwood has five par 5s, and they’re all reachable, and at roughly 7,100 yards and a par 72, it had little defense against this world-class field. At more than a few points during this week, birdies felt as commonplace as pars.

On a course like that, getting off to a fast start is a must—otherwise, you feel like you’re losing ground and start to press. Cantlay got off to an ideal start, birdieing three of his first four holes to pull within two shots of Thomas. But Thomas and Rahm held steady through the front nine, each making the turn at 22 under.

Patrick Cantlay’s third career PGA Tour win comes in his 101st career tour start. Harry How

Cantlay was two back of Rahm after the Spaniard birdied the par-5 11th to get his nose ahead. No reason to push, as there were still two par 5s remaining. The first one proved pivotal. Cantlay played the 13th perfectly, bunting a driver down the centre of the fairway then running up a fairway wood to the fringe before converting an easy two-putt birdie.

In the group behind, Thomas and Rahm both made a mess of the hole, albeit in different ways. Thomas’ mistake came with his tee shot, a block that found thick rough down the right side. He could not advance his second into the fairway and had a blind shot for his third, which he sent over the green. But still, a nifty up-and-down for par averted total disaster.

Rahm cannot say the same. He striped a 3-wood off the tee and had an iron in hand for his second, but he caught his approach a bit heavy and left himself every golfer’s least favourite proposition: the 40-yard bunker shot. He left it short of the green and could not get up-and-down—a crushing bogey to fall a shot back.

Cantlay kept pushing. He canned a 17-footer for birdie at 14 and pulled off the shot of the day on the par-3 15th, one of Sherwood’s only difficult holes: a three-quarter 7-iron that he nearly dunked. His 10-footer for birdie was dead centre, and the tournament was his to lose, so long as he avoided a bone-headed mistake.

He did not avoid a bone-headed mistake. After laying up with his second on the par-5 16th, he pulled a wedge well left and hit a tree—he was somewhat fortunate that it kicked right. Still, his bogey (just the second he’d made all week) opened the door for his chasers.

“I thought I still had to make birdies, so I was firing right at that flagstick and I pulled it a little bit,” Cantlay said. “Occasionally that happens even to the best of us.

“I wasn’t expecting it to hit the tree, thought it would actually cover the tree. I think if it would have missed the tree, maybe it would have caught the edge of the green, but it hit the tree and went to a bad spot.”

Patrick Cantlay plays a shot from the rough on the 16th hole during the final round of the 2020 Zozo Championship. Harry How

Ultimately, Rahm had a 19-footer for birdie on the 18th hole to force a playoff that missed on the low side; he settled for a closing 68. Thomas, who would ultimately shoot “only” a 69, needed to hole his approach shot on the 18th to tie Cantlay, and came close, A four-foot birdie at 18 earned him a tie with Rahm for second.

“I just didn’t play very well,” said Thomas, who had a 54-hole lead for the 14th time in his still young (he’s only 27) career but for the third straight time failed to convert it into a win. “It’s unfortunate because I feel like I usually could have shot 5 under out there. To play the par 5s one under is just unacceptable if you’re trying to win a golf tournament. I fought like hell, I fought as hard as I could, I just didn’t have my best stuff.”

It’s a validating victory for Cantlay, and one that sees him return to the top 10 in the World Rankings, moving to No. 9. Which is where he belongs—while the public might not think of him in the same breath as the 20-somethings he beat on Sunday, there’s been a sense inside the golf world that Cantlay is every bit as good as the Thomases, the Rahms, the Morikawas, the Schauffeles of the world. Not quite an underachiever, but capable of more. Watch him on the driving range and you’ll understand. Remember, he’s the guy who shot 60 as an amateur in a PGA Tour event, the one who held the solo back-nine lead at Augusta National for a hot second in 2019.

Speaking of Augusta. Add another name to the expanding list of contenders for the Masters.

“I was able to win one of the tournaments Tiger won last year,” Cantlay said. Woods won this event last year in Japan but beat just three players this week.

“So now I’m just going to go try and win the other event that Tiger won last year.”

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