PGA Tour continues
The PGA Tour’s Genesis Open will be about who can stay the hottest. Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama has powered his way to the top spot in the FedExCup standings with 1,697 points after putting together a sharp, bogey-free 5-under-par 66 total in the Waste Management phoenix open two weeks ago. He tied Webb Simpson at 17-under 267, and then made a birdie on the fourth playoff hole to vanquish the American, which gave Matsuyama back-to-back Waste Management Phoenix Open titles. He beat Rickie Fowler in another four-hole playoff in 2016.
The victory over Simpson was his fifth in his last nine worldwide events.
Justin Thomas of the U.S. rolls into riviera country club having missed the cut in Phoenix, but he’s still grinning ear-to-ear after his Hawaiian victory sweep of the SBS Tournament of Champions at Kapalua and the Sony Open at Waialae Country Club. Thomas thumped the field by seven shots over second-place finisher Justin Rose at Waialae, and was three strokes better than Matsuyama at Kapalua. Thomas set several records in the Sony Open, including posting the lowest total score in the tourney’s history, 27-under 253, the lowest 72-hole score in PGA Tour history, 253, the lowest 54-hole score in PGA Tour history, 188, which tied Steve Stricker, and the lowest 36-hole score in PGA Tour history, 123.
Thomas sits second at 1,614 points in the FedExCup standings, 83 behind Matsuyama.
More competitors
Jordan Spieth, a Texas native, will shoot for a PGA Tour repeat performance this week at the Genesis Open after easily outdistancing the field by four strokes at the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro Am to reach 910 FedExCup points and third spot in the standings.
The triumph topped off a sizzling streak of five straight events in which he’s placed comfortably in the top-10. Spieth was T6 in the Hero Challenge, T3 at the SBS Tournament of Champions, solo third in the Sony Open, and T9 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open before conquering Pebble Beach.
Bubba Watson won the tournament last year when it was called the Northern Trust Open.
Watson finished one-shot better than Adam Scott of Australia and Jason Kokrak of the U.S. Dustin Johnson of the U.S was next, two shots off Watson’s winning pace. Riviera Country Club plays 7,322 yards and is a par 71.
Favorites: Dustin Johnson, Jason Day, Hideki Matsuyama, Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth
Players to watch: Justin Rose, Adam Scott, Phil Mickelson, Bubba Watson, Mackenzie Hughes
