Recapping Hideki Matsuyama's Triumph at the St. Jude Championship
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00The 14th hole Hideki has an opportunity to just hit this ball in the middle of the green
00:07and go two putt or even go three putt, you know, and, uh, and I honestly, I don't even
00:12remember if he made the putt for bogey.
00:15No, doubled.
00:16So he made double.
00:17Cause I'm, I'm obviously in the group in front.
00:18I just remember it was chaos.
00:20So he makes double there.
00:21When it was after watching like Nick Dunlap, who's who needs this top five, who takes a
00:25really aggressive line right over the top of the state, he missed that putt.
00:29So he made double there.
00:30I, that was to my recollection because I know he doubled, um, I know he doubled the, the
00:36next hole.
00:38Let's see.
00:39We're just, we're going to find out together.
00:40He made the putt.
00:41He made bogey.
00:42He made bogey.
00:43Oh yeah.
00:44The next two holes mix up the next hole.
00:45He made double.
00:46I was like, hold on.
00:47I don't think he went double double.
00:48Uh, but then that was, that was a hole where he hit it left and he had a couple of chips
00:49in there.
00:50Yeah.
00:51Yes.
00:52So he's in that rough behind the green.
00:53And honestly, it's the only shot that you have.
00:54There is to try to play an explosion flop shot, get some spin, uh, to give yourself a chance
00:59and just went underneath it.
01:00Cause you can easily, you know, over bounce that and chunk it into the water beyond the
01:04green at 15.
01:05So when you get to 16 and part of that hole, all of a sudden, you know, I'm with Victor
01:09Hovland Scotty's group and on 15 I hear the ball, it's went in the water.
01:14We hear the groan from the crowd and that's when I was like, wait, what are my guys at
01:19all of a sudden?
01:20Cause they were four shots back and Victor and Scotty both hit it in tight at 15 Scotty
01:25lips out, which was the story of his weekend.
01:27Victor makes.
01:28And then he birdie 16.
01:29I was like, Holy crap.
01:30He's he's now has a one shot lead going into 17.
01:33Yeah.
01:34Well, and do you get, do you get credit for the smiley show bump for having taken a picture
01:39earlier in the week with Hideki with the bronze medal?
01:42Uh, do we get bump points there at all?
01:44Well, we definitely weren't if he didn't birdie 17 and 18, but since he birdied and 17 is,
01:51I think it's, if you ask me, it's probably one of the hardest holes out of TBC Southwind.
01:58You know, there's not as, there's a penalty area that's not really in play, uh, that kind
02:02of goes through the middle of the fairway, not, you know, it's three 50 off the tee.
02:09And for him, for Hideki to, to go bogey double and then birdie 17 and then get on 18 to hit
02:16that fairway.
02:17He had no idea how hard that tee shot was on 18 to step up there, find the fairway and
02:23then line there too.
02:24Yeah.
02:25And then take it aggressively on his second shot where all he needed was it to the right
02:29side of the green to putt when the golf tournament, he took it on and got it left to the pin and
02:33made birdie.
02:34So, uh, well, and there was that to your point on 17, when there, when there was that sort
02:39of swing happening where Hoblin took the lead briefly, he hits his tee shot right on 17.
02:43You were within there.
02:44Right.
02:45And so, and, and ends up making bogey.
02:46Yeah.
02:47And that's when his opportunity sort of, he'll be kicking himself without his, uh, his initial
02:52drop was a good lie.
02:53Second drop was in a terrible lie and hit it into a drop was brutal, hit it into a bunker
02:58where I felt like he should have got it up and down.
03:00But the pressure, obviously in that situation, knowing that things are happening behind you,
03:04you can understand not getting up and down.
03:07But the, the next part about this, that, uh, with Hideki that I think is just so interesting
03:14is that his last couple of years, I'm not going to say that he's disappeared, but it,
03:18it hasn't felt like a deck.
03:19He's been the elite player that we've seen over the years.
03:23And what we've seen, it wasn't, you know, what we've seen this year is a resurgence
03:27to form.
03:28His iron game is back to what we're accustomed to.
03:31And what I say, but what I mean by that is when Hideki's one arming shots and they're
03:35going to 15 feet, we know, we know, we know Hideki's back.
03:39And so that, that's something you saw all week.
03:42His iron game was crisp and the putter was good and the driver, you know, he's always
03:46been a fairly good driver.
03:49And there was one story that I found out about Hideki after this event that I wanted to get
03:53into is that he loves fast food, big fast food guy.
03:59But this is the, the next part of this is that I heard that Hideki plans where he stays
04:07every single week based off where the IHOP is.
04:11Wow.
04:12I thought that was incredible intel.