Threepeat: One of the TOUR’s toughest asks

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. – Arnold Palmer won three times in a row in Phoenix from 1961-1963, so there’s a precedent as Hideki Matsuyama goes for the threepeat at the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale this week. There just aren’t many precedents. Over the last four decades, Tom Watson (Byron Nelson Classic, 1978-1980), Stuart Appleby (Mercedes Championship, 2004-2006) and Steve Stricker (John Deere Classic, 2009-2011) are the only other players besides Tiger Woods who have won the same tournament three straight years. (Woods has done it four times.) It’s not easy.  “Sometimes a place just makes sense to you,� said Brendan Steele, who successfully defended his title at the Safeway Open at Silverado Resort to begin this season. “This place obviously makes sense to [Matsuyama]. He knows where to be aggressive and where not to.� This year’s WMPO boasts a stellar field, with Arizona State product Jon Rahm, reigning FedExCup champ Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth and Rickie Fowler, among others. Altogether, five of the top seven in the world and 23 of the top 30 in the FedExCup will play on the “greatest show on grass.� Still, you have to give the two-time defending champion Matsuyama the edge. How comfortable is the Japanese megastar at the par-71, 7,266-yard TPC Scottsdale? He has vanquished Webb Simpson (last year) and Fowler (2016), and when he hasn’t won, he has come very close (T4 in 2014, T2 in ’15). Early reports this week have the greens playing faster and firmer than usual, but get this: Matsuyama is putting better than ever. “I don’t know you saw the stats,� he said in his press conference Tuesday, “but my strokes gained: putting was the best it’s ever been at Torrey Pines. I was very proud of that, and hopefully I can keep putting well.� Matsuyama, whose putting has run hot and cold, ranked second in sg: putting at the Farmers Insurance Open (+2.040); tied Charles Howell III for low round Sunday (69); and tied for 12th. On the year he is 31st in sg: putting (.609), a vast improvement over last year (173rd, -.383). He is 32nd in the FedExCup standings, and will play the first two rounds with Fowler and Simpson. Justin Thomas had a chance to three-peat at the CIMB Classic but finished T17 earlier this season. Daniel Berger will go for his third straight FedEx St. Jude Classic title in June. Said Simpson of Matsuyama’s three-peat possibility this week: “I’ve never repeated a tournament. It’s hard to win even once; to be going for a third straight is really impressive.� Alex Noren toured TPC Scottsdale for the first time Tuesday afternoon, so there was no time to sit back and reflect on his loss to Jason Day in a six-hole, sudden-death playoff at the Farmers, a playoff that had to be extended to early Monday morning. “It’s back to grinding,� Noren said in between nines Tuesday. An eight-time winner on the European Tour, the soft-spoken Swede is ranked 16th in the world. Still, until the Farmers hadn’t shown his A+ game on the PGA TOUR. Now he has. “I’ve always thought the courses are quite tough here,� said Noren, 35. “I played here in college [at Oklahoma State], those U.S. Open style courses, and now I’ve showed to myself that I can play here. It was a tough day on Sunday and I kept it together, so that’s what I’m looking for.� Ryan Palmer, the third player in the three-man playoff at the Farmers, was also on the course Tuesday. The Texan’s playoff loss was his best result since top-10 finishes at the two-man Zurich Classic of New Orleans and the modified Stableford-format Barracuda Championship last season. Palmer tied for second at the WMPO in 2006 and 2015, and was fifth in 2013. “I’ve had some good success here,� he said. “These greens are a little faster than they have been in the past, so I’ve got to do some work to get the speed right. “It’s been fun lately to see the ball go in the hole.� Scott Stallings has fond memories of the WMPO coinciding with the New England Patriots being in the Super Bowl. A resident of Scottsdale who was born in Worcester, Mass., Stallings, like Patriots quarterback Tom Brady, is an Under Armour athlete. The shared connection paid big dividends when the Patriots took on the Seattle Seahawks at the 2015 Super Bowl in nearby Glendale, Ariz., and Brady set up Stallings and others with seats. “We had the whole front row at the 10-yard line,� Stallings said. “It was awesome.� When the Patriots won with an interception in the end zone on the final play, it was even more so. Stallings has nothing quite so decadent planned for this year’s Super Bowl, in which the Patriots will take on the Philadelphia Eagles at a nearly-new stadium in Minneapolis. “I just hope I get a chance to see the whole game,� Stallings said. But if he doesn’t, and it’s because of a late tee time at TPC Scottsdale on Sunday? “It would be a good problem to have,� he said.

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