PGA Tour: Hideki Matsuyama climbs leaderboard on Saturday
By Tim Letcher
Hideki Matsuyama finds himself in contention on the PGA Tour again after a big Saturday at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit
There was a time, not so long ago, when a number of people believed that Hideki Matsuyama could be the next great player on the PGA Tour. He showed why on Saturday at the Rocket Mortgage Classic.
Matsuyama shot one of his best rounds of the season on Saturday. Now, he finds himself in contention to claim his first PGA Tour title of the season.
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The first two days of the Rocket Mortgage Classic were nothing special for the 28-year-old Matsuyama. He shot a 71 on Thursday, followed by a 68 on Friday to make the cut on the number. Saturday’s round was a totally different story.
Matsuyama opened with three straight pars before recording birdies on numbers four and five. After a par on six, he birdied the seventh hole to move to 3-under par on the day. Pars on eight and nine left him with a 3-under par 33 on his front nine.
He started the back side with a birdie on number 10 to get to 4-under on his round. After pars on the 11th and 12th holes, Matsuyama birdied the 13th and 14th holes, getting to 6-under on the day.
Pars on 15 and 16 followed, then a birdie on the 17th hole. He would par number 18 to finish his round at a 7-under par score of 65. When he finished, he was tied for the lead.
Matsuyama has had an up and down season on the PGA Tour this year
He has played in 12 events and made 10 cuts. He has finished in the top 25 eight times and in the top 10 on four occasions.
He tied for third at the CJ Cup at Nine Bridges in October and had a solo second at the Zozo Championship, in his native Japan, later in the month. One week later, he tied for 11th at the World Golf Championships – HSBC Champions.
As the calendar turned to 2020, Matsuyama tied for 12th at the Sony Open in Hawaii. Two weeks later, he tied for 45th at the Farmers Insurance Open before finishing in a tie for 16th at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
He then had two very good weeks in a row, starting with a tie for fifth at the Genesis Invitational. The next week, he tied for sixth at the World Golf Championships-Mexico Championship.
Matsuyama tied for 56th at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, his last event before the coronavirus pandemic stopped play on tour. The break apparently did not agree with Matsuyama.
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His first event back on tour was at the RBC Heritage at Harbour Town Golf Links. He opened with a 74, followed by a 70 and he missed the cut.
Matsuyama has a world of talent and can win any event that he enters. If he is to claim his first win of the season on Sunday, he will need a big round. But Saturday’s round at least put him in position to have a chance.