Rickie
Fowler hit two balls into the water on the par-4 17th hole
to give Hideki Matsuyama an
unexpected playoff victory Sunday in the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Overcome by emotion thinking about his family, Fowler broke down in tears in
the media center. "The hard part is having all my friends and family and
grandpa and my dad who haven't seen me win," Fowler said. "But I will
be able to kind of hang with them tonight. I'll be all right." He blew a
two-shot lead on the 317-yard 17th in regulation when he blasted a driver
through the green and into the water, with the ball traveling nearly 360 yards.
"I'm hitting a chip-cut driver," Fowler said. "Usually, don't
expect it to hit on the downslope and then go 360."
Using a 3-wood in the
playoff, he pulled his drive into the lake just short of the green. "Hit
it solid," Fowler said. "Just hit it a little high on the face and it
just got up and left a little quicker than I was expecting and wanted."
Matsuyama birdied the hole in regulation to tie for the lead, chipping to 2 1/2
feet. In the playoff, he chipped to 6 feet and two-putted for the win after
Fowler missed his 10-foot par putt. "Surprised and sad that Rickie
finished that way, but all I can do is my best," Matsuyama said through a
translator. "I was lucky to come out on top."Fowler forced the
playoff with a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-4 18th after Matsuyama made an
18-footer. They each shot 4-under 67 to finish at 14-under 270 at TPC
Scottsdale's Stadium Course. "The putt I made there was probably the best
putt I have ever made in my life," Matsuyama said.
The playoff was just as
dramatic. On the par-4 10th on the third extra hole, Fowler saved par with a
12-foot putt after driving into the left rough and skulling his approach long
and right. Matsuyama made a 5-footer to extend the playoff. They played the
18th hole twice to open overtime. On the first extra hole, Fowler chipped to a
foot to set up a par after leaving his wedge approach short and right.
Matsuyama rolled his 25-foot putt inside a foot. On the second playoff hole,
Matsuyama matched Fowler's 15-foot birdie putt to extend it. "Maybe from
the outside it looked calm, but then I was nervous inside," Matsuyama
said. The crowd of 65,330 pushed the week total to a record 618,365, shattering
the mark of 564,368 set last year. The event broke its own golf record Saturday
at 201,003 after drawing a Friday-record 160,415. "It was a blast playing
in front of all these people," Matsuyama said. "I'd say probably 99
percent were cheering hard for Rickie, but that gave me the motivation to go
out and do it and win."
Matsuyama won the 2014
Memorial for his only other PGA Tour title, beating Kevin Na on the first extra hole. The 23-year-old Japanese player
tied for second last year in Scottsdale, a stroke behind Brooks Koepka. Fowler missed a chance for his fifth worldwide win
in nine months. He started the run in May at The Players Championship, won the
Scottish Open the week before the British Open, the Deutsche Bank Championship
in September and the European Tour event two weeks ago in Abu Dhabi. "This
one hurts," Fowler said. Fowler chipped in from 50 feet for birdie on the
par-4 10th to take the lead and added birdies on the par-5 13th and 15th holes
to pull two shots ahead. He missed a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-3 16th, the
tournament's signature stadium hole, before giving Matsuyama a chance with the
long tee shot on 17. "It didn't look very good," Matsuyama said.
"Then Rickie opened the door for me, and I was able to walk through
it." Harris English shot a 66
to tie for third at 12 under. Third-round leader Danny Lee had a 73 to drop to fourth at 11 under. The South
Korean-born New Zealander began the day three strokes ahead of playing partners
Fowler and Matsuyama. Phil Mickelson
followed his third-round 65 with a 71 to tie for 11th at 8 under. The
45-year-old former Arizona State won the event in 1996, 2005 and 2013.
