Cink gets tours trifecta with first Champions win

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.

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Tiger Woods didn’t miss the chance to needle Justin Thomas a bit when Tiger saw just how far apart their drives were on Wednesday.

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PACIFIC PALISAIDES, Calif. – Tiger Woods has suffered from a late-round fade for the second day running at The Genesis Invitational, leaving his chase for a much wanted win at Riviera Country Club in a precarious spot. Woods produced three bogeys over his last seven holes to settle for a 2-over 73, pulling him back to even par for the tournament. He should still be set for weekend play though, as the cut was trending towards being one-over-par when the 44-year-old signed his scorecard. Woods is in the midst of a 13th attempt to win a tournament at the venue where he began his PGA TOUR career as a 16-year-old. He grew up some 40 miles away and now hosts the event which became an elevated Invitational status this season. Related: Leaderboard | TOUR pros: My first time with Tiger | JT admits Tiger carried him at Presidents Cup In Thursday’s opening round, he played his opening eight holes in four under before fading to two under. Friday, he opened on the par-4 10th with a birdie, but stumbled with a double-bogey on the 15th when he caught his approach shot fat and ended up in a bad bunker lie. However, the 82-time TOUR winner rebounded with birdies on the 17th and first holes to be within shouting distance of the leaders at the time. Unfortunately, the round unraveled from there. Woods was unable to get up and down from a bunker to save par on the third hole and missed a five-foot par putt on the next. A three-putt on the sixth hole was another dagger and contributed to losing over two strokes on average to the field in Strokes Gained: Putting. But Woods was more annoyed with his approach game as he aims to move out of a tie atop the all-time TOUR wins list with Sam Snead. “I made some pretty bad mistakes out there with balls in the fairway… one ball in the fairway with wedge in my hand and another one with a sand wedge in my hand and played those two holes in three over. Not very good,â€� Woods said. “You take those away and I’m near the top of the board. So it’s not that complicated, I just need to clean it up, but I’m now pretty far back and I have to make a lot of birdies this weekend. “I was not sharp today. I just could not get the ball close enough to the hole to give myself good putts. And then when I did, I was in the wrong spots, I was above the hole and had to putt pretty defensively.â€� It was the first over-par round of the season for Woods, including the four he played in his Hero World Challenge. After Thursday’s fade, Woods referenced a lack of preparation time as he juggled his dual roles as host and player. But with his early finish Friday, he hoped some rest would freshen his mind and game. “Hopefully I can get off to a quick start like I did last year, hot birdie run and maybe make an eagle in there like I did last year,â€� he said in reference to a third-round 65 that saw him move from 52nd to 10th in 2019. “I need a start like that tomorrow to get myself back in this thing. Everyone’s bunched. There’s so many guys that have a chance going into the weekend. The wind’s picked up. I don’t know if the guys will go quite as low this afternoon as they did this morning. I just can’t (drop any more shots), not where I’m at.â€�

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