Cameron Champ’s driving stats were off the charts in his debut as a PGA Tour member

Editor’s Note: This article was originally published October 22, 2019 to celebrate the inaugural ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, the PGA TOUR’s first official event in Japan. Since then Hideki Matsuyama made history at Augusta National Golf Club becoming the first player from Japan to win a men’s major championship. This week marks the first time an official PGA TOUR event will be played in Japan with the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, but this very proud nation has a great history in golf and has long been a very important part of the TOUR fabric. While in modern times Hideki Matsuyama – a five time PGA TOUR winner – has laid claim to possibly being the greatest ever player from Japan, his path to the TOUR was blazed decades prior to his emergence. It was way back in 1929 that the first Japanese players found their way into a TOUR event. The Hawaiian Open that year – which was won by Craig Wood – had Tomekichi “Tommy” Miyamoto (T13), Haruo “Jack” Yasuda (T17) and Kanekichi Nakamura (T22) in the field. In May 1935, at the invitation of Walter Hagen, six Japanese golfers — Miyamoto, Yasuda and Nakamura, plus Toichiro “Torchy” Toda, Seiha “Chick” Chin and Rokuzo Asami — traveled to Michigan for an exhibition against TOUR players Mortie Dutra, Al Watrous, Clarence Gamber, Jake Fassezke, Joe Belfore and Hagen. A week later at the 1935 U.S. Open outside Pittsburgh, all six became the first players from Japan to appear in a PGA TOUR tournament in the United States (Hawaii was not yet a state but a territory in 1929). Nakamura was the only player to make the cut. He tied for 58th at Oakmont Country Club. Continuing on their trek the six players traveled to South Bend, Indiana, for the Western Open (now known as the BMW Championship and part of the FedExCup Playoffs). All but Asami made the cut, with the best finish coming from Nakamura (15th). Following that tournament, the six went to Virginia at the invitation of Sam Snead to play in a goodwill exhibition match at The Homestead’s Cascades Course in Hot Springs, where Snead was the head professional. Virginia golfers Bobby Cruickshank, Graham Napier, Tommy Halloway, Nelson Long, Billy Howell and Snead played against six Japanese golfers. In 1936, Toda played in nine documented PGA TOUR events. He, along with Chin, became the first players from Japan to play in the Masters. Chin tied for 20th, with Tommy Armour, Lawson Little, Sam Parks and Craig Wood (all major champions or future major champions), while Toda tied for 29th. Chin was born in Chinese Taipei to Chinese parents, but he grew up in Japan and counted himself a citizen of Japan. Also in 1936, Toda recorded top-10 finishes at the Hollywood (Florida) Open (T2), the Catalina (California) Open (fifth), the Thomasville (Georgia) Open (ninth) and the Richmond Open (T10). His only missed cut was at that year’s U.S. Open. Toda’s tie for second was the best performance by a player from Japan until Isao Aoki won the 1983 Hawaiian Open (now the Sony Open in Hawaii). He famously holed a pitching wedge for eagle on the 72nd hole to beat Jack Renner and became the first Japanese player – and first Asian – to win on the PGA TOUR. Aoki’s PGA TOUR debut had come at the 1974 Hawaiian Open where he tied for 36th, but he became a PGA TOUR member for the first time in 1981. In the 1980 U.S. Open at Baltusrol, Aoki was runner-up to Jack Nicklaus. Aoki only had the one TOUR win but went on to win nine times on PGA TOUR Champions. Since Aoki’s breakthrough win, we have seen plenty more stars from Japan. Among them, Shigeki Maruyama was a crowd favorite with tremendous character who won three times on the PGA TOUR. He first claimed the 2001 Greater Milwaukee Open to be the first Japanese player to win on the mainland. He added wins at the 2002 AT&T Byron Nelson and the 2003 Wyndham Championship but perhaps is still best known for going 5-0 in the 1998 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne as the International Team’s star performer in what to this day is still their only victory. Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki is a legend in Japan, having won 94 times on the Japan Tour. He spent the majority of his career at home but had three top-10s in majors and was a big presence. Tommy Nakajima was another who spent the majority of his time on the Japan Tour – where he won 48 times – but he had six top-10 finishes at majors including a third place at the 1988 PGA Championship. Ryuji Imada won the Atlanta Classic on the PGA TOUR in 2008 and Ryo Ishikawa played 145 PGA TOUR events between 2009-2017 with 11 top-10s and two runner-ups. Satoshi Kodaira won the 2018 RBC Heritage. And while nine Japanese players will suit up this week at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, it is of course Matsuyama who will garner the most interest. After bursting into our consciousness as a young amateur standout in the Masters, it didn’t take long for him to prove he could cut it as a pro. From winning the 2014 Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide as a 22-year-old to adding the 2016 and 2017 Waste Management Phoenix Open’s and the 2016 World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions and the 2017 World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. He also won the 2016 Hero World Challenge. Matsuyama was the first Japanese player (and first Asian) to win a World Golf Championships event. He hopes to be the first to win a major championship and a FedExCup. But for now he will attempt to be the first Japanese player to win the first PGA TOUR event in Japan. “I feel very excited. So many top players are here, so I’m very excited to play,” Matsuyama said. Tournament organizers expect bumper crowds each day and despite the likes of Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy in the field you can bet a majority of those will be flooding around their countryman.

Click here to read the full article…

Bryson DeChambeau was hoping he was on the mend after a fractured hamate bone in his left hand necessitated a two-month break from the PGA TOUR. Instead, he’ll have surgery. “Bryson will undergo surgery on his hamate bone in his left hand,” DeChambeau’s agent, Brett Falkoff, said in a statement. “We look forward to a smooth recovery and rehab process. Bryson looks forward to returning as soon as he is cleared to do so.” DeChambeau, an eight-time PGA TOUR winner, including the 2020 U.S. Open at Winged Foot, said he first felt a “pop” in his left hand in the fall. He further injured his hand and left hip while playing Ping-Pong earlier this year. He was playing against Sergio Garcia and Joaquin Niemann on freshly wiped marble floors, he said, when he slipped. In discomfort as he missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines – where he had contended at the 2021 U.S. Open – he shut it down for most of February and March, hoping rest would be enough. He missed his title defense at the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard, where his titanic, instant-classic drive cleared the lake at the sixth hole last year, and THE PLAYERS Championship. Alas, the wrist has continued to hamper his play upon his return late last month at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play. He didn’t make it out of pool play, nor did he look comfortable in missing cuts at the Valero Texas Open (73-76) and Masters Tournament (76-80). “I’m probably around 80% right now,” DeChambeau said at Augusta National. “I can’t go all-out. I can’t do any speed training sessions. I can’t practice for excessive hours.” The time away from the game, he added, allowed him to appreciate other things besides golf. He also said that his doctors recommended against him returning to competition so soon. Although he had missed the cut at the Masters, DeChambeau was among those who stuck around to congratulate Tiger Woods for making it through 72 holes after a 2021 car accident that nearly cost him his right leg. As for what DeChambeau described as a minor labrum tear in his left hip, he said he suffered the initial injury two years ago, at the outset of his transformation into the longest driver on TOUR (and beyond), when he slipped on concrete while swinging at over 200 miles an hour.

Click here to read the full article…

Leaderboard: McIlroy

Click here to read the full article…