B4 RED DEER ADVOCATE Monday, June 2, 2014
Matsuyama makes good at Memorial GETS FIRST PGA WIN IN PLAYOFF AFTER WILD FINISH AT MUIRFIELD VILLAGE BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DUBLIN, Ohio — With every swing, Hideki Matsuyama appeared to join a cast of top players throwing away a chance to win the Memorial. A tee shot in the water on the 16th for double bogey. An approach over the back of the green on the 17th that led to bogey. And then a drive to the right that made the Japanese star so disgusted that he lightly slammed his club into the turf, and the head of the driver broke off. The ball hit a tree and took one last bounce back into the fairway, and Matsuyama seized on the break. He took dead aim with a 7-iron to just outside 5 feet for birdie on the 18th hole to force a playoff with Kevin Na, and then won for the first time in America with a 10-foot par putt on the first extra hole. “Right from the 15th hole, I had a lot of missed shots,” Matsuyama said. “The double bogey at 16, bogey at 17, not a real good tee shot — I thought — at 18. But when I saw the ball on the fairway on the 18th hole there, that’s when I was able to think I still have a chance.” The 22-year-old Matsuyama earned validation as one of the game’s bright young stars Sunday by closing with a 3-under 69 and making two clutch putts on the 18th hole for his sixth career victory, the previous five on the Japan Golf Tour. This was his first win against a field of the world’s top players. “I just think you’ve just seen the start of what’s going to be truly one of your world’s great players over the next 10 to 15 years,” tournament host Jack Nicklaus said. Nicklaus spent much of the back nine in the broadcast booth, and it was a brand of golf that was unfamiliar to golf’s greatest champion. The Memorial became only the latest event where proven players faltered badly. Masters champion Bubba Watson had a one-shot lead with five holes to play. He was 3 over the rest of the way. Adam Scott, the No. 1 player in the world, was tied for the lead until playing the last seven holes in 4 over. “The whole thing is frustrating as
I stand here right now,” Scott said after his 71. “But everyone is going to feel like that. We all could have done something different. If we all did, who knows what the result would be?” Scott fell apart by hitting one shot into the water, taking two shots to get out of a bunker and losing all hope when his third shot to the par-5 15th hit the pin and caromed back into the fairway, leading to a bogey. Watson dropped three shots by hooking two tee shots. The most damaging was his drive on the 15th that was so high, so powerful and so far right that it cleared the trees and went into a neighbourhood, leading a double bogey. Needing a birdie on the 18th, his shot looked good until it took one small hop and stayed in the rough. A few inches closer and it would have fed down the slope for a short birdie chance. He closed with a 72 and finished third, moving him to No. 3 in the world ahead of the injured Tiger Woods. “It’s tough,” Watson said, who was going for his third win of the year. “I made one bad decision. If I hit 4-wood off the tee instead of driver on the par 5, we make 5 and we win by one. But I made double, so we lost by one.” Na finished his round of 64 about two hours earlier. He was in the clubhouse at Muirfield Village, leaning against two pillows on a sofa as he watched the calamity unfold, even joking he might win by not hitting another shot. Thanks to Matsuyama, he had to. And it wasn’t pretty. Na hooked his tee shot on the 18th in the playoff, and it went into the creek. He still had 10 feet for bogey when Matsuyama made the winning putt. Na did not speak to reporters. A PGA Tour official tracked him down in the parking lot, and he gave credit to Matsuyama for making a great putt. Adding to the bizarre ending was how Matsuyama played the extra hole. It was not an angry slam of the driver after his tee shot on the 18th in regulation, and he was shocked to see the head fall off. He could have replaced the club because the playoff is not considered part of the round, but he had no replacement.
Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Hideki Matsuyama, of Japan, celebrates after winning the Memorial golf tournament in a playoff on Sunday, in Dublin, Ohio.
Victory vaults Stacy Lewis to top of world rankings
Photo by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Stacy Lewis kisses the trophy after winning the ShopRite LPGA Classic golf tournament in Galloway Township, N.J., Sunday. Lewis shot 16-under-par, 197 to win the tournament.
BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS GALLOWAY TOWNSHIP, N.J. — Stacy Lewis is back on top. And this time, she’s ready to stay there for a while. Lewis won the ShopRite LPGA Classic on Sunday to take the top spot in the world ranking from Inbee Park, finishing with a 4-under 67 for a six-stroke victory. No. 1 for four weeks early last year, Lewis ended Park’s 59-week run in the top spot. “It feels great,” Lewis said. “I feel like I’ve played a lot of good, consistent golf over the last year and I felt like I deserve to be here. I didn’t feel like I stumbled into it.” Lewis finished at 16-under 197 on the Bay Course at Stockton Seaview Hotel and Golf Club and earned $225,000 for her second victory of the year and 10th overall. Also the 2012 winner at Seaview, she won the North Texas LPGA Shootout last month after finishing second six times in her previous 16 events since winning the Women’s British Open in August. She joins Sorenstam (1998, 2002, 2005), Juli Inkster (1986, 1988) and Betsy King (1987, 1995, 2001) as the only multiple winners in the tournament. “That’s a pretty good list of people there,” Lewis said. “That’s not too bad. Wow, that’s really cool.” Christina Kim was second after a 72, marking her best finish since 2010. Park closed with a 70 to tie for eighth at 7 under. She’s winless in 10 tour starts this season after sweeping the first three majors last year and finishing the season with six victories. “It is a little bit relief not to have the big heavy crown on my head,” Park said. “It’s not the end of the world.” Lewis finished a stroke off the tournament scoring record set by Annika Sorenstam in 1998 and 2005. The 29-year-old Texan opened with a 67 and had a 63 on Saturday to take a one-stroke lead over Kim into the final round. On Sunday, she was hardly threatened, using birdies on the third and fourth holes to open up a twostroke lead before picking up two more consecutive
Tom Pernice Jr. wins playoff in Champions Tour’s Principal Charity Classic BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS DES MOINES, Iowa — For the second time in less than a year, Tom Pernice Jr. hit a crucial shot on the 17th hole on his way to a victory. This time, Pernice needed one more big shot to secure the win. Pernice birdied the second hole of a suddendeath playoff with Doug Garwood on Sunday to win the Champions Tour’s Principal Charity Classic. “I was calm all day. I played it with the right edge and I stroked it and it went right in the hole,” Pernice said. Pernice won for the third time on the 50-and-over tour, closing with a 3-under 69 to match Garwood at 12-under 204 at Wakonda Club. Garwood, making only his fourth start of the season, birdied the final two holes of regulation for a 71. They played the par-4 18th hole twice in the playoff. Pernice won with a putt from roughly 8 feet after they opened the playoff with matching pars. Pernice’s performance was reminiscent of the 3M Championship last August in Minnesota, when he made a 45-foot putt on No. 17 to win. He chipped in from roughly 30 feet out to take the lead on Sunday, though Garwood matched that birdie and later forced a playoff. “I really hit the ball good all week and really kept the ball in play in the fairway when I needed to and holed some key shots at key times,” Pernice said. Bill Glasson, Jay Haas, Mark Calcavecchia and Michael Allen finished a shot back. Glasson shot 64,
Haas 67, Calcavecchia 70, and Allen 71. Garwood opened the final round with a one-shot lead but needing to win to earn a full Champions Tour card for the next 12 months. A birdie putt from the fringe on the first hole seemed to portend well for his prospects. But Garwood bogeyed three consecutive holes — after going par or better on the first 41 holes of the tournament — and went into the back nine tied for first. Garwood’s fourth bogey of the round, on the par-5 13th hole, appeared to ruin his shot for a career-defining win. But Garwood rallied with clutch birdies on the last two holes to stay alive. Those shots helped Garwood redeem himself for three-putting the final hole of a qualifying tournament with a full exemption at stake in the off-season. “I gave it away at Q-school. Straight gave it away. Here I didn’t feel like I gave it away because I earned it with the birdies on 17 and 18,” Garwood said. Garwood’s troubles made for a crowded leaderboard for much of the day. Glasson began Sunday eight shots off the lead. But he jumped atop the leaderboard with the best round of the tournament and sat around for over two hours waiting to see if he’d end up in a playoff. Haas, a three-time winner of the event, joined him in the clubhouse at 11 under with a birdie on No. 18. Allen also nearly qualified for the playoff before missing a birdie putt on No. 18. Garwood then sent his approach on the final hole over the green, while Pernice stuck his close enough for a relatively easy winner.
birdies to open the back nine — holing a 25-foot putt on No. 10 and a 15-footer on No. 11. Despite her first bogey in 42 holes at No. 12 and then missing two short putts on No. 17 for another bogey, Lewis had built up enough of a cushion to cruise home with the largest margin of victory in the tournament’s 26-year history. “I don’t know what it is about this place,” Lewis said. “It’s just really special to me. I’ve played some really good golf here, and it’s just mind-boggling to think I have 10 wins.” Jennifer Johnson (72), Haeji Kang (69), Anna Nordqvist (70) and Gerina Piller (70) tied for third at 9 under. Johnson opened with a course-record 62 and followed with 70 for a spot in Sunday’s final pairing with Lewis and Kim. But the 22-year-old Californian had a double bogey and two bogeys on the back nine to fall out of contention. Kim had a run of three straight birdies on No. 9-11, but shot 3 over on the final seven holes, including a double bogey on 18. “I hadn’t been in contention in a while so I kind of forgot what it was like having nerves,” Kim said. “And it kind of showed on the last hole.” Lewis smiled and pumped her fist to the crowd as she walked down the fairway at 18, relishing her new place atop the world ranking. Her brief stay as No. 1 last year was a rocky one, with Lewis admitting that she had trouble dealing with the extra obligations that came with the top spot. “With a good team of people around me,” Lewis believes she’s more prepared to handle those duties and be the face of the LPGA Tour. “The last time it was taken away from me in an offweek when we weren’t even playing, so I’m definitely just not going to take it for granted and really enjoy it this time. Now I know all the extra things that come along with it. But I’m ready for it this time.” Karrie Webb, last year’s champion, tied for eighth after a 67. Third-ranked Lydia Ko bounced back from a second-round 75 to shoot 69 and finish at 1 under.
EUROPEAN TOUR BY THE ASSOCIATED PRESS MALMO, Sweden — Thailand’s Thongchai Jaidee quickly won a playoff against Stephen Gallacher of Scotland and France’s Victor Dubuisson to clinch the Nordea Masters on Sunday. Jaidee birdied the par-5 18th at PGA Sweden’s Lake Course while Gallacher and Dubuisson could only make par. Earlier, the 44-year-old Jaidee hit six birdies and an eagle three on the 11th to finish in 7-under 65 and an overall 16-under 272 for his sixth European title. “I worked hard today,” Jaidee said. “I started with three birdies in a row, had another one on six, then a good comeback on 11.” He said he was nervous on the last few holes. “The golf course is wide open, you have to hit good golf shots and the weather helped a little bit,” he said.
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