Sleeper Picks: Charles Schwab Challenge

The kid from Japan with the tall hairdo and pause at the top announced himself as one to watch at the 2011 Masters, earning low amateur honors with his T27 finish. Hideki Matsuyama has been challenging the world’s best since then while becoming a golf icon to fans back in Japan. For those in the U.S. who stayed up late, and others around the world, Sunday was a special day as Matsuyama claimed his seventh PGA TOUR title at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP. The Land of the Rising Sun could celebrate with its risen star. Matsuyama comes alive for home fans For most of the four days at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club, it felt like destiny was on Matsuyama’s side. He opened the tournament with a 64 to trail countryman Hiroshi Iwata by one but seized a one-shot lead with back-to-back 68s in tough conditions Friday and Saturday. This season has had its highs and lows for Matsuyama, who won his first major at The Masters Tournament in April but missed the podium, losing the bronze-medal playoff, at the Tokyo Olympics in August. He came to the ZOZO playing poorly, he said, but found something. An eagle at the par-5 6th hole extended Matsuyama’s lead to two over Cameron Tringale, but then it got tight. Matsuyama bogeyed No. 8, Tringale birdied No. 9, and they were tied. Then Tringale birdied No. 10 to take the lead. That’s when everything changed, Matsuyama throwing down the hammer. With the home fans giving him a little extra push, he birdied Nos. 11, 13 and 15 to take a two-shot lead. He and Tringale bogeyed 17, but then Matsuyama left no doubt, sending his fans into a frenzy. From 241 yards out on the par-5 18th, Matsuyama hit a fairway wood to 12 feet. While Tringale bogeyed, Matsuyama slammed in his eagle putt for a statement-making five-shot win. The victory is Matsuyama’s seventh on the PGA TOUR, but first in Asia. He pulls within one of K.J. Choi’s record eight PGA TOUR titles by an Asian-born player. “I was the only Japanese player contending and was up on the leaderboard,” he said. “To be honest, there were some pressures to deal with, but I’m glad I was able to convert that to positives.” The last time the ZOZO was held in Japan, in 2019, Matsuyama finished second to Tiger Woods. But this was Matsuyama’s moment. Surprising, given that he said before the tournament, “If my game scored 10 out of 10 at the Masters, now, I would say it scores less than 1.” Afterward, he boosted his grade, but not by much. “I would rate my performance as 2 or 3,” he said. “From the results perspective, it went about to 8, but I think it’s because of all the energy that I was getting from the fans, and I was very surprised how much energy I was feeding off of them.” For sports-crazed Japan, which has been mostly without on-site fans during the pandemic, most notably for its own Olympic Games, it felt like a special moment in the country’s athletic history. Tringale: another close call Last May, Cameron Tringale put his name in the record books, for better or worse. He became the highest-earning PGA TOUR player without a win. After another runner-up finish, his fourth on TOUR, the 34-year-old Tringale retains his title, as much as he wants to get rid of it. For about an hour on Sunday, it looked like Tringale might foil Matsuyama’s victory march. Tringale’s birdie at the 10th gave him sole possession of the lead. He waved to the crowd and was met with pleasant claps, although it was no secret who the gallery was cheering for. Alas, he flatlined from there: pars on Holes 11-16, then a bogey-bogey finish to lose by five (T2). “I needed to kind of take a couple risks and unfortunately it didn’t pan out,” Tringale said, “but I played 16 really good holes and yeah, that was the day.” Of his eight top-3 finishes, four have come since the TOUR’s post-COVID restart in June of 2020. It feels like a victory is inevitable, but then it’s felt like that for a while. “At least I was in it to some degree on the back nine,” he said. “I felt comfortable. I feel like I keep getting more comfortable and I’m more excited about continuing to be in that position.” Still no first-time winners Five weeks into the 2021-22 PGA Tour season, all five winners have added to their trophy case, while none have started their collection. Max Homa won his third title, Sam Burns his second, Sungjae Im his second, Rory McIlroy his 20th and Hideki Matsuyama his seventh. All five champions are between ages 23-32 and all were in the top 50 in the world at the time of their wins. All five are expected to be consistent factors throughout this season, if not years to come. The 2019 fall season produced four new winners, while the 2020 falls season gave us two. Tringale, who tied for second with three-time TOUR winner Brendan Steele, joined Maverick McNealy and Cameron Young as 2021-22 runner-ups who were seeking their first wins. Japan shows depth While it was Japan’s most famous player hoisting the trophy, a handful of others also excelled. Takumi Kanaya, the 2018 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship winner, who subsequently made the cut at the 2019 Masters, went 68-66 on the weekend to climb to T7 at 5 under. The 23-year-old Kanaya, who spent 55 weeks as the top-ranked amateur in the world before turning pro in 2020, has won three times on the Japan Golf Tour over the last three years. Kanaya, who in 2020 won the Mark. H. McCormack Medal as the world’s No. 1 amateur – other winners have included Patrick Cantlay, Jon Rahm and Joaquin Niemann – is a legit future star. Hiroshi Iwata, 40, who played on TOUR from 2016-2017, took the first-round lead with a 9-under 63. Although he cooled off (T18), he proved he can still go toe-to-toe with the best in the world. Shugo Imahira, who has reached world No. 30 and made the cut at the 2020 Masters and U.S. Open, also finished T18. The 29-year-old has five Japan Golf Tour wins and if he can get his world ranking back up – he’s No. 136 – could find his way back to a few majors in the next decade. Keita Nakajima, who followed Kanaya as the McCormack Medal winner in 2021 and remains the No. 1 amateur in the world, put together at an impressive T28. In all, six Japanese players landed in the top 30, while just one – Matsuyama – did so in 2019. Morikawa quietly in form Just over two months ago, Collin Morikawa started the FedExCup Playoffs at No. 1 in the standings. Alas, he missed the cut at THE NORTHERN TRUST, finished T63 at the no-cut BMW Championship and had the 28th-best gross score at the TOUR Championship (of the 29 players who finished). As it turned out, he had hurt his back in the Olympics, but by the time he got to the Ryder Cup a month ago, he said he was fully healthy. His results have backed that up. After going 3-0-1 at Whistling Straits, Morikawa finished second at THE CJ CUP @ SUMMIT. He finished T7 at the ZOZO, and climbed to No. 2 in the world, his highest-ever ranking. In doing so, he passed Dustin Johnson, his partner in all three of his Ryder Cup wins. The ascendant Morikawa, 24, only has one man ahead of him now: Jon Rahm. Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 The Comcast Business TOUR TOP 10 highlights and rewards the extraordinary level of play required to earn a spot in the TOP 10 at the conclusion of the FedExCup Regular Season as determined by the FedExCup standings. The competition recognizes and awards the most elite in golf.

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CROMWELL, Conn. – Forever a piece of history, it is yellowed and frail, this picture of him that ran on page 25 of the Chino Champion in August of 2006. Sahith Theegala of Chino Hills had brought Presidio Hills to its knees, a closing 51 giving him a two-stroke win. He was a Junior World champion for the second time – and he was only 8. A local hero, so the community paper understandably trumpeted Theegala’s feat with the headline, “Another Tiger.” Pure hyperbole, of course, given that the real Tiger, the esteemed Eldrick Woods who had grown up 40 miles away, in Cypress, was winning The Open Championship and PGA Championship, major titles 11 and 12, in that Summer of ’06. But, hey, the local kid made it three Junior World titles in 2008 so maybe the Chino Champion was on to something. Theegala smiles at the sweet nostalgia. But, alas, “it looks like I peaked (too early),” he laughs. On the contrary, young man, if it’s possible to get a photo of you holding both the Fred Haskins and Ben Hogan awards it would provide proof that you are respectfully humble. Fact is, Sahith Theegala might just be reaching his potential at just the right time for him and the right time for the game. Kids, after all, are earning accolades in impressive speed and as the son of immigrants from India, Theegala provides more flavor to the growing multi-cultural landscape that is the PGA TOUR. It seemingly is a rite of early summer, this stop at TPC River Highlands for the annual Travelers Championship. What is different, of course, is the nature of the PGA TOUR in this pandemic – no spectators on site, but jam-packed leaderboards with top-of-the-world talents putting up a sea of red numbers. But what remains refreshingly brilliant about this tournament is the wide-eyed kids who get sponsor exemptions to give a boost to their new-found pro golf career. Theegala, 22, is this year’s star attraction, fresh off having become just the fifth player in the last 30 years to win both the Haskins and Hogan trophies as the nation’s top collegian. Bittersweet, in some respects, as the pandemic brought a screeching halt to the collegiate season in March and Theegala never got a chance to try and help Pepperdine’s chances in the NCAA Tournament. But life moves quickly and so Theegala had little time to wallow in disappointment. There were decisions to be made and the one he chose – to turn professional and turn down the NCAA’s offer to play his senior year over again in 2020-21 – is one he is at peace with. “I know others chose to go back (to college) and I respect that. For them, it was the right decision. I know Q Schools (for the Korn Ferry Tour) have been canceled, and (that is a big deal). But for me, I’ve already spent five years in college,” said Theegala, who redshirted the 2018-19 season because of a wrist injury. “I had that extra year to mature and develop, to get a new perspective on life. I feel I’m ready.” About to raise a cup of skepticism, are you? Be careful, because in serenity and warmth during a late-Tuesday practice round, Theegala walked side-by-side with a boyhood friend, a kid from La Canada Flintridge, only 40 miles from Chino Hills. Collin Morikawa would be right to knock that cup of skepticism out of your hands – only he’s far too well-mannered. Likely, though, Morikawa would offer you a reminder of what transpired at last year’s Travelers when he was making just his third PGA TOUR start as a pro, the same week that Matthew Wolff and Viktor Hovland were making their pro debuts. For the record, Mr. Skeptic, all three of those young men have since won on the PGA TOUR and Morikawa might never miss a cut. “It is so cool to see the journey they are on,” said Theegala, who played in far too many junior tournaments with Morikawa to count. He also crossed paths with Wolff, as all three of them grew up on Southern California munis. “But there is no one who knows those guys who would tell you they’re surprised at what they’ve already done. They are really good, and they prove that the level between the top collegians and the pro game isn’t that big a gap.” Theegala’s mission is to close that gap even more. But he surely appreciates that he’s taking on the challenge in crazy times. “I hope to play in a few (PGA TOUR) tournaments,” said Theegala, who has a spot this week and next week at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, with some others in the pipeline. “If not, I know some minitours have stepped up and I’ll play in some Monday qualifiers. I’ll just play as much as I can.” Doubt him at your peril, for Theegala has already presented enough testimony to justify his plunge into the pro golf business. Ten years after that “Another Tiger” photo in the Chino Champion, Theegala as an 18-year-old pushed aside a trio of stellar youngsters in the U.S. Amateur – Justin Suh, Sam Burns, Joaquin Niemann – before losing in the quarterfinals to eventual winner Curtis Luck. Guess he hadn’t peaked before his 10th birthday, because six months after that performance at Oakland Hills, Theegala earned a sliver of the spotlight at one of his favorite layouts, Riviera Country Club, in the Genesis Invitational. Having gotten into by winning a qualifier for collegians, Theegala shot a first-round 67 to sit inside the top 10, made the cut and played 36 weekend holes next to Phil Mickelson. “I had so many family and friends, being just 20 minutes from Pepperdine,” said Theegala. “And two holes in, Phil was treating me like he’s known me for years. It was so great.” Mickelson edged Theegala, 71-69 to 71-71, on the weekend, but it was the best finish (T-49) for an amateur in the Genesis since Mike Springer in 1988. If you put stock in a kid who appears to be constantly moving forward, then Theegala deserves your attention. He got through a qualifier for the 2017 U.S. Open and his collegiate career (46 tournaments, three wins, 19 top 10s) shows steady improvement in scoring average until posting the nation’s best scoring average (69.04) in his final season. If there is a downside to this week’s tournament, it’s that his parents, Karuna and Muralidhar, can’t be in attendance to watch because of the pandemic. “They’re so supportive to me and that’s why I am at peace with this decision, because I have great people behind me,” said Theegala, who does have one familiar face to lean on at the Travelers – his caddie, Pepperdine coach Mike Beard. “He has always believed in me. I wasn’t a great recruit, but coach believed in me. Even when I was struggling in high school, he supported me,” said Theegala. “He knows my game.” It’s one that appears ready to make the leap into the pro game.

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Looking for Tiger or Rory or Jordan or JT to be at the top of Michael Collins’ list? Wrong. Hear this name and write it down: Tony Finau.

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