SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Chris Gotterup did his part Sunday afternoon, charging up the Phoenix Open leaderboard with a closing flourish of five birdies in six holes.
As he kept loose on the first tee of TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course, the 26-year-old American player knew he would need some help with former major champion Hideki Matsuyama still on the course with a one-shot lead.
Gotterup got what he needed with a wild tee shot by Matsuyama on 18, then took advantage when the 33-year-old Japanese star did it again in the playoff.
Gotterup closed with a 7-under-par 64 to make the bonus golf possible, and he secured a sudden victory with a long birdie putt on the first extra hole after Matsuyama pulled his tee shot into the water.
“You never know what to expect,” Gotterup said. “We went over to the first tee, hit a couple balls, was watching, and then all of a sudden you’re out there on 18, and everyone is going nuts, and you’re like, ‘All right, this is it.'”
The leader by one heading into the final round, Matsuyama had converted all five of his previous 54-hole leads on the PGA Tour into wins, but he limped to the finish this time.
The two-time Phoenix Open champion nearly hit his tee shot in the water left of the reachable par-4 17th, leading to a par, and he pulled his drive on 18 left into the church pew bunkers for his 11th missed fairway of the day.
Matsuyama hit his second shot into the face of the bunker, then couldn’t get up and down from 43 yards, which sent the tournament to a playoff. The 2021 Masters champion closed out a 68 to match Gotterup at 16-under 268 through 72 holes of regulation play.
“I wanted to avoid the playoff as much as I could, but I just hit a bad tee shot there in regulation at 18,” Matsuyama said through an interpreter.
Gotterup, the winner of the season-opening Sony Open in Hawaii just three weeks ago, closed with a three-foot birdie on 18 in regulation despite hitting his tee shot near the grandstands right, and he watched Matsuyama finish in between swings off the first tee. The long-hitting Gotterup wanted to put pressure on Matsuyama in the playoff and did, uncorking a massive drive down the right side of the fairway.
Matsuyama yanked his tee shot even further left than he did in regulation, caroming it off the far bank of the lake into the water. He hit his third shot onto the green after a drop, but Gotterup left no doubt by sinking his 27-foot birdie putt for the fourth win of his PGA Tour career and his second in three starts this year.
“I feel confident in what I’m doing and feel like I have played well enough to feel confident to be able to be in those positions,” Gotterup said. “So far, I’ve been able to capitalize on those.”
He and the rest of the field had to endure a charge from Scottie Scheffler.
The four-time major champion and longtime No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking went from being in danger of the missing the cut with a shaky first round to turning heads as his name moved toward the top of the leaderboard.
Scheffler — another two-time Phoenix Open champion, having won back-to-back editions in 2022-23 as part of the first leg of his dominance of the tour — had a run of four birdies in five holes on the back nine to pull within a shot, but the 29-year-old Texan couldn’t take advantage of a massive drive on 18. He closed with a 64 to finish in a five-way tie for third at 15 under.
All three Baylor School graduates who entered the tournament made the cut, and Harris English and Stephan Jaeger were part of the tie for 28th at 7 under on the final leaderboard. English closed with a 68, while Jaeger had a 72. The other former Red Raiders standout in the field, Chattanooga native Keith Mitchell (71) tied for 41st at 5 under.
Matsuyama won consecutive Phoenix Opens in 2016 and 2017, rallying both times.
This time, the Japanese star started the final round with a one-shot lead over four players with several others still in the hunt. The big name in that group was none other than Scheffler, who opened the PGA Tour’s rowdiest tournament with a 73, then shot a 65 in the second round to extend the tour’s longest active streak of made cuts to 66.
Scheffler was seven behind after the second round, trimmed it to five after the third, then started inching up the leaderboard Sunday.
He had three birdies on the front nine and a run of three straight on the back — highlighted by a 72-foot putt from the fringe on 14 — pulled him within one of the lead. A two-putt for a birdie from 63 feet on 17 to got Scheffler back within one, but he missed a 24-foot birdie putt on 18 to see his charge fall short.
“I played pretty well; only one round where I didn’t have my best stuff,” Scheffler said. “If I get in the house the first day with a couple under par it’s a little different story today.”
Gotterup ended up writing the final chapter — with some help from Matsuyama.
AP file photo by Altaf Qadri / Patrick Reed has two wins and a playoff loss over the past three weeks on the DP World Tour, including Sunday’s victory in the Qatar Masters.
Reed keeps rolling through Middle East
DOHA, Qatar — Patrick Reed capped his remarkable month in the Middle East by winning the Qatar Masters, his second tournament title on the DP World Tour in three weeks that all but assures the 2018 Masters champion will have a full PGA Tour card in 2027.
Reed closed with a 2-under 70, turning back an early threat from Denmark’s Jacob Skov Olesen (71) and a late charge by Scotland’s Calum Hill (67) for a two-shot victory at Doha Golf Club.
Reed finished at 16-under 272 in the 72-hole event, with Hill alone in second as Olesen shared third with American player Johannes Veerman (68) at 13 under.
In the past three weeks, Reed has won the Dubai Desert Classic, lost in a playoff in Bahrain and won in Qatar. No one has posted a lower 72-hole score in three straight events on the Europe-based DP World Tour, and now he will move into the top 20 in the Official World Golf Ranking for the first time since 2021.
“This little run I’ve had, two wins and a second, it’s awesome. We couldn’t ask anything more than what we did,” Reed said. “It’s special, especially to get two wins early on in the season, and hopefully there’s a lot more to come.”
The 35-year-old American returns home with a far different path than was anticipated when he left.
Reed came to Dubai to begin preparing for his fifth season of LIV Golf League competition, but he won the Dubai Desert Classic against a strong field and revealed he had not renewed his LIV deal.
Over the next few days, Reed chose to leave LIV with an eye toward returning to the PGA Tour. Reed said he would play a full DP World Tour schedule this year to try to earn a full PGA Tour card by being among the top 10 in the season-long Race to Dubai who were not already exempt.
The next two weeks in Bahrain and Qatar took care of that. Reed now leads the Race to Dubai with 2,259 points, already more points than the player last season who earned the final PGA Tour card. He still has the four majors and four Rolex Series events ahead of him, and now Reed has his eye on more than just a full card in America next year.
“It’s always been a dream of mine to be an American who wins the Race to Dubai, and we’re off to a fast start,” Reed said.
Collin Morikawa in 2021 is the only American to finish at No. 1 on the European circuit, which has an open date this week before starting a three-week stretch in Africa.
LIV Golf photo by Pedro Salado via AP / Elvis Smylie celebrates after his final putt on the 18th green during Saturday’s closing round of an LIV Golf League tournament at Riyadh Golf Club.
So far, so good for Smylie
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia — Elvis Smylie won the LIV Golf League’s season-opening Riyadh tournament Saturday night in his tour debut, closing with a bogey-free 8-under 64 under the lights to hold off two-time major champion and former world No. 1 Jon Rahm (63) by a stroke.
Smylie, who won $4 million, finished at 24-under 264 in the first 72-hole tournament for LIV after the Saudi-funded circuit used a 54-hole format for its first three seasons.
The 23-year-old also led Ripper GC to the team title as the Australian foursome that includes Cameron Smith, Lucas Herbert and Marc Leishman — a trio of former individual tournament champions on the PGA Tour — finished at 69 under, three strokes ahead of runner-up Torque GC.
“It’s a dream come true,” said Smylie, who officially joined the team last month. “I really didn’t know what to expect this week. Playing at night is obviously a whole different ballgame out here.
“I wanted to come out here and make a statement. I wanted to prove that I’m one of the best out here, and I feel like I’ve done that. It’s only up from here.”
Smylie also owns two victories on the PGA Tour of Australasia from late 2024, with one of those the BMW Australian PGA Championship that is co-sanctioned by the DP World Tour.
Rahm, the 31-year-old Spaniard who won the 2021 U.S. Open and the 2023 Masters before he joined LIV for the 2024 season, finished two strokes ahead of third-place Peter Uihlein at Riyadh Golf Club. The 36-year-old American closed with a 67.