Big hitting Chris Gotterup rolled in a birdie on the first playoff hole to better Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama at the WM Phoenix Open.
The come-from-behind win saw Gotterup make consecutive birdies on the final two holes in regulation to shoot 7-under on Sunday and charge up the leaderboard. Matsuyama started the day with the lead, but a final round of 3-under wasn’t enough to give him the win. Matsuyama, who was trying to win the WM Phoenix Open for the third time, yanked his drive left twice in two holes on the 423-yard 18th at TPC Phoenix, resulting in a bogey on the final hole of regulation that put him into the playoff at -16. That put Gotterup and Matsuyama, the former Masters champion currently ranked 14th in the world, one shot ahead of a surging Scottie Scheffler. The No. 1-ranked player in the world matched Gotterup’s 7-under, but Scheffler, who moved 13 spots up the leaderboard on Sunday, couldn’t hole a 26-foot putt on the final green to grab a spot in the playoff.
Matsuyama almost made the playoff a non-event by hooking his tee shot into the water left of the fairway, while Gotterup smashed a long drive down the middle, leaving a slight pitch into the green. Matsuyama managed to recover and putt his approach on the green, but it didn’t make any difference as Gotterup rolled in his putt for birdie and the win. It is Gotterup’s third win in three years, and the rising star ranked 16th in the world coming into the tournament.
Steamer gets the boot
The Waste Management is known for being wild, but there’s limits on everything. On Saturday, internet gadfly Jack Doherty was seen paying a spectator $100 to yell, “Jacka**,” in Mackenzie Hughes’ backswing. Hughes ended up stopping his swing, but videos of the incident showed Doherty trying to prank Hughes, who hails from Dundas, Ont.
Hughes stopped his swing and called security and Doherty was removed, along with the spectator who disputed play. Doherty was later seen on video being removed from the tournament, and told he was banned from further PGA Tour events. The Internet personality was seen pouting about his removal, noting he only paid the spectator to yell, and didn’t actually yell himself.
Hughes wasn’t particularly bothered by the incident, saying later that he saw the video and “I didn’t lose much sleep over it.” Hughes said he had no idea who Doherty was.
The wild 16th
When it was first created more than 40 years ago, the 16th at TPC Scottsdale was considered just another hole. These days, as the hub of the Waste Management tournament, the hole is home for thousands of spectators and ensuing antics. The hole started to gain significant notoriety in 1997 when upstart Tiger Woods aced it, yielding roars from supportive fans. In the years since, the hole has seen all sorts of craziness, and the tour has attempted to control the situation and not let it get out of control. The hole now hosts 20,000 spectators over nearly 300 skyboxes with 3,000 general admissions spots. Fans lineup hours before the tournament and sprint to try to get a spot at the 16th. It takes up to four minutes to sprint from the entrance to the hole, with many doing it in costume. Every year the hole is much debated—is it out of hand? Is it even a good place to watch golf? Overall, nearly 600,000 people attend the tournament, though official numbers haven’t been provided since prior to the Covid 19 pandemic.
Canadians make the cut
Every time Nick Taylor tees it up in Phoenix, his winter home when he’s not spending time in Canada, it seems like he has a shot at winning. Not so this year, though Taylor jumped 17 spots on Sunday to a respectable T28 finish. That found him tied with PGA Tour rookie, Vancouver’s AJ Ewart, and Mackenzie Hughes. Rookie Sudarshan Yellamaraju made the cut, but a 73 on Sunday dropped him precipitously down the leaderboard, finishing at T54. Top-ranked Canadian Corey Conners missed the cut.