Poston caps long Vegas day with 3rd PGA Tour win

Put on your blue suede shoes, board the plane as it’s time for a walk in Memphis. TPC Southwind is on deck for the 32nd-consecutive season and second running as host of the WGC FedEx St Jude Invitational. Ron Pletcher’s test served as the warm-up for the U.S Open since 2007 but this year will be the tune-up before the PGA Championship at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco next week. TPC Southwind lines up 40 yards deeper this year with the addition of two new tee boxes but length hardly bothers these elite players. New bunker positioning and re-shaping will make the pros think twice as the choice of sand (76 bunkers), water (11 penalty areas) or dealing with 2.5 inches of Bermuda rough. Defending champion Brooks Koepka is the only winner of the last five to finish top 10 in fairways so accuracy isn’t a premium. The focus this week will be second shots into the well-protected, undulating 4,300 square foot Bermuda greens. Small targets will require scrambling skills if missed and conversions of birdie chances with the flat stick when found in regulation. Walking off with par will not be a bad score this week. Taking advantage of the two Par-5 holes won’t hurt either. Returning to Bermuda greens for the first time since Harbour Town will take a quick recalibration. The heat of Memphis won’t bother anyone who has been practicing in Florida or playing on TOUR the last few weeks. A field of 78 will feature 17 players making their course debut but plenty of familiar names are on site. Of the 50 OWGR top players, 45 are on property as they prepare for the first major of the season with a major-like purse. Nothing gets the attention, just check the winners all-time of WGC events, of the best of the best than a big field on a big-time course. There’s no exception this week as the total purse of $10.5 million will see the winner take $1.82 million of that plus 550 FedExCup points. The good news is there isn’t a cut so everyone will get four rounds of prep before heading to San Francisco. RELATED: Power Rankings | Sleepers | Expert Picks 2019 WGC-FESJC Invitational: Top 25 (* – course debut) 1 Brooks Koepka 2 Webb Simpson 3 Marc Leishman 4 *Tommy Fleetwood 4 Rory McIlroy 4 *Matthew Fitzpatrick 7 *Jon Rahm 8 Ian Poulter 9 Billy Horschel 9 Bubba Watson 11 *Justin Rose 12 Rafa Cabrera Bello 12 *Patrick Cantlay 12 Patrick Reed 12 *Cameron Smith 12 *Jordan Spieth 12 *Justin Thomas 20 Dustin Johnson 20 *Haotong Li 20 *Louis Oosthuizen 24 *Matthew Wolff (1st WGC event) Recent Winners 2019: Brooks Koepka (-16) Started in the final group one back of McIlroy and fired 65 to win by three … Bogey-free effort beat McIlroy by six. … Fifth straight winner top 10 GIR (T8). … First winner in five NOT to lead in Strokes-Gained: Tee-to-Green (6th). … Led the field in Bogey Avoidance, Par-4 scoring, Scrambling and Bogey Avoidance. … Only winner of last five NOT to finish in top 3 in Par-5 scoring (T48). … Only winner in the last six to finish top 10 in driving accuracy. … Fifth player to win a major and a WGC event in the same season. … Entered off T4 The Open Championship week prior. … Sick most of the week. Notables: Webb Simpson posted the round of the day on Sunday, 64, to take second. … Marc Leishman closed 63-67 for solo third. … Tommy Fleetwood closed 65-66 for T4. … Matthew Fitzpatrick (T4) led after 36 holes. … McIlroy (T4) matched the course record on Saturday to lead after 54 holes by one. Jon Rahm (7th) tied the course record, 62, to lead after the first round. …… Top 10 players 10-under or lower. … Only 14 bogey-free rounds. … The top 23 players posted just 13 rounds above 70. … Last three winners of this EVENT have been either Nos. 1, 2 or 3 in the OWGR AND FedExCup at the time. #Chalk. 2018: Dustin Johnson (-19) Walk-off eagle to win by six. … Last regular TOUR event played here. … Won here in 2012. … Led after 36 and co-led after 54 holes. … Missed the tournament record by a shot. … Clinic in all phases minus Driving Accuracy. … Led the field in Par-4 scoring and Strokes-Gained: Tee to Green; Second in Bogey Avoidance, Strokes-Gained: Approach the Green and Proximity. Notables: Chez Reavie (T6) and Brandt Snedeker (T6) were the only others entered this week that finished in the top 10, just 12 shots back! … Snedeker tied the course record (62) in Round 2, his only round below 70 of the week. … Phil Mickelson closed with 65 for T12. … CT Pan and JT Poston shared T18. … Only two players double digits under-par. … Only 10, bogey-free rounds on the week. Key stat leaders Top golfers in each statistic on the 2019-2020 PGA TOUR are listed only if they are scheduled to compete this week. Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green (* – previous WGC event winner) 1 *Justin Thomas 2 Sergio Garcia 3 *Rory McIlroy 4 *Hideki Matsuyama 5 Tyrrell Hatton 6 Collin Morikawa 7 Bryson DeChambeau 8 Patrick Cantlay 9 Jon Rahm 10 *Xander Schauffele 11 Tony Finau 12 Viktor Hovland (first WGC event) 13 Paul Casey 14 Webb Simpson 15 Joaquin Niemann (first WGC event) 18 Daniel Berger (won FESJC 2016-17) 19 Corey Conners 21 Abraham Ancer 23 Tommy Fleetwood 24 Scottie Scheffler 25 *Jason Day Bogey Avoidance 1 Tyrrell Hatton 2 Bryson DeChambeau 3 Webb Simpson 5 Jon Rahm 6 *Justin Thomas 9 Abraham Ancer 10 *Xander Schauffele 11 Daniel Berger 12 *Rory McIlroy 14 Brendon Todd 15 Gary Woodland 16 Brandt Snedeker 20 Kevin Na 25 Adam Hadwin Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee 1 Bryson DeChambeau 2 Cameron Champ (debut) 3 Sergio Garcia 4 *Rory McIlroy 6 Jon Rahm 7 *Xander Schauffele 8 Viktor Hovland 9 Paul Casey 10 Scottie Scheffler 11 Jason Kokrak 12 Tommy Fleetwood 13 *Bubba Watson 14 *Dustin Johnson 15 Matthew Wolff 16 Corey Conners 17 *Brooks Koepka 18 Sungjae Im (debut) 20 Ryan Palmer 21 *Justin Thomas 23 Collin Morikawa 25 Billy Horschel Heat Checks Brooks Koepka: In six starts, he’s found the podium three times and is the defending champion; happy hunting ground. Dustin Johnson: Won on debut in 2012 and won the last TOUR event here in 2018 with two more top 10s squeezed in between; T20 last year and WD last week. Daniel Berger: Won on debut in 2016 and backed it up in 2017; mc last visit 2018. Billy Horschel: In seven paydays, five have produced top 10s, including four straight trips (2013, 2014, 2015 and 2017); six straight weekends before adding T9 last year. Phil Mickelson: Annual attendee to tune up for the U.S. Open saw him rattle off T12 or better in six straight before 57th last year. Rafa Cabrera Bello: T4 debut in 2017 included 65-66 sandwich; T12 in his second visit last year included 67-66 weekend.

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KAWAGOE, Japan – There’s often an attempt to place Hideki Matsuyama’s achievements in a larger context, to discuss not just his play but also what it means for his home country of Japan. It’s an easy story, especially for English-speaking media, about a man who uses few words in any language. Matsuyama is not a man on a mission, however. Becoming an evangelist whose pulpit is the putting green has never been his goal. He did not leave his homeland nearly a decade ago in order to grow the game in Japan, nor does he keep long hours on the driving range for that purpose. Matsuyama crossed the Pacific Ocean at age 21 to play the PGA TOUR because he wanted to compete at the highest level. The impact position of his famously methodical swing is more important to him than his impact on golf’s popularity in his homeland. RELATED: Leaderboard, tee times | How the format works | How to watch The Olympics are different than any other golf tournament, however. The majors may be of greater importance to most golfers, but at least there are four of them a year. Miss at the Masters and there’s another opportunity a month later. The Olympics only happen once every four years, however. Matsuyama recognizes that this week is unique, describing a home Olympics as a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. “If I say there’s no pressure, I’ll be lying,” he said. There are no spectators at Kasumigaseki Country Club this week, but he was still followed by about 100 people after teeing off Thursday. It was by far the biggest gallery. Many were volunteers clad in matching blue shirts and gray pants. And Matsuyama was reunited with the throng of Japanese media that documents his every move and enquires about every hole. They’ve been absent from the United States since the COVID-19 pandemic began, and this is Matsuyama’s first competition in Japan in some 18 months. Shigeki Maruyama, the four-time TOUR winner who’s serving as Japan’s Olympic coach, said Matsuyama usually “plays much more comfortably” than he did Thursday. His recent COVID-19 diagnosis only complicated things, interrupting Matsuyama’s preparations for this week. “He really likes this course and has special memories, but not being 100% because of what happened in summer, I feel bad for Hideki,” Maruyama said. Matsuyama won the 2009 Japan Junior at Kasumigaseki, then returned a year later to claim the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, a win that netted him his first Masters invitation. His win this year at Augusta National, which made him the first Japanese man to win a major, only heightened the expectations for this week. Green and gold perfectly complement each other. Matsuyama hasn’t finished better than T23 in four starts since the Masters, though. He named that as another source of anxiety. “Since my Masters win, I haven’t had the best results so far this summer, so I’m a little bit nervous,” he said in his pre-tournament press conference. His 69 in a low-scoring opening to the Olympics left him six shots behind Austria’s Sepp Straka. Matsuyama, who’s tied for 20th, is four back of bronze. After making birdie on half of his first eight holes, Matsuyama was 2 over par the rest of the way. Maruyama said Matsuyama’s endurance is “night and day” since he contracted COVID-19. Matsuyama had to withdraw from the Rocket Mortgage Classic four weeks ago because of his positive test and also withdrew from The Open Championship. This was his first competitive round since the opening day of the Rocket Mortgage Classic four weeks ago. When asked the most difficult part of competing after such a long layoff, Matsuyama said that his focus faded towards the end of his round. Thursday’s high temperatures only made that task harder. The Games have been played under the shadow of COVID-19, but on the field these Olympics have been a success for the host country. As of Thursday evening, Japan’s 13 gold medals were tied with the United States for the second-most (one behind China). But Japan also has seen one of its star athletes struggle with the pressure of competing at home. Naomi Osaka, who lit the Olympic flame in the opening ceremonies, lost in the third round of the women’s tennis tournament. “I definitely feel like there was a lot of pressure for this,” she said. Like Matsuyama, Osaka was competing after a lengthy hiatus. The Olympics were her first competition since she withdrew from the French Open in June to cope with her mental health. Unlike tennis, Matsuyama has the opportunity to recover from a tough day. Three rounds remain as he tries to win another medal for Japan.

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