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Tour Mash: Matsuyama makes history, Gribble lights up Jackson

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A generation back, no one played important tournament golf this late in October. But thanks to wrap-around seasons and playoff chases, we have important and excellent golf through November! From Asia to South America to the U.S., many fine shots were played this week. So pull up a chair and a fork, and dig into this week’s Tour Mash.

WGC-HSBC Champions: Matsuyama wins big, makes history

Hideki Matsuyama was dominant this week at the WGC-HSBC Champions, putting on clinics in every facet of the game from tee to green. He began the week throwing birdies like darts to a board, compiling 19 birdies over the first two days, and only his six bogeys during that 36-hole stretch allowed the field to surmise that it had any chance at all.

Over the final two rounds, the 24-year-old from Japan halved his birdie total to 10, but made no bogeys and extended his lead to the final seven-shot margin. With the win, Matsuyama became the first Asian-born player to win a WGC in its 18-year history, fittingly at the tournament known as “Asia’s major.” It also moved him into the top spot on the young 2016-2017 FedEx Cup points list.

Related: See the clubs Matsuyama used to win. 

Open Champion Henrik Stenson finished in second place at 16-under par along with American Daniel Berger. After an injury-marred early part of 2016, Berger has re-established himself as one of the more exciting young Americans in the game. Berger had 21 birdies on the week, but repeatedly dropped a bogey at critical junctures to stall his run at victory.

PGA Tour: Gribble lights up Jackson for first Tour win at Sanderson Farms

PGA Tour Rookie Cody Gribble birdied five of the final seven holes on Sunday at the Sanderson Farms Championship in Jackson, Miss., to win his first PGA Tour event by four shots over Greg Owen, Chris Kirk and Luke List.

Related: See the clubs Gribble used to win. 

Owen and List were also looking for their first PGA Tour victories at the Country Club of Jackson, while Kirk searched for his fifth Tour win. For Owen, the tie for second place at 16-under was the result of enough birdies, but too many bogies. For List and Kirk, not enough birdie putts fell to move them up the leaderboard.

Gribble, a member of University of Texas’ 2012 NCAA Championship team, simply knocked down the flagstick on his way home. His five back-nine birdie putts all came from inside 20 feet. The victory earned Gribble 300 FedEx Cup points, moving him inside the top-5 on the season-long list.

LPGA Tour: Feng knocks at door, rings bell at Sime Darby in Malaysia

Paul McCartney’s 1976 song Let ‘Em In describes the last few months of Shanshan Feng’s season. Beginning in August at the Rio Olympics, Feng was scarcely outside the top-five in any event she played. Trouble, if it can be described thus, was that the 27-year-old from China had not won over that stretch, nor for the past two years. On Sunday in Malaysia, Feng packaged up any doubts and shipped them away with a closing 67 to finish 17-under, three shots clear of Suzann Pettersen.

U.S. Open runner-up Anna Nordqvist lurked as the day began, but was unable to match Feng’s pace. The Swede closed with bogey and double over the final five holes to drop from second place to a third-place tie at 12-under with Amy Yang.

Pettersen had six birdies in her Sunday-low score of 66, but her chances at victory evaporated with a bogey on the par-five 16th hole. After opening with bogey, Feng was rock steady the remainder of the way, posting five birdies for 67 and her fifth LPGA victory.

Champions Tour: Pernice strikes first in Schwab Cup Playoffs at PowerShares QQQ

In the first-ever Charles Schwab Cup Playoff event on the PGA Tour Champions, Tom Pernice did just enough to avoid a playoff with Colin Montgomerie. The UCLA alumnus, familiar with golf in Southern California, reached 14-under with consecutive birdies on Nos. 14 and 15, then held on over the final three action-packed holes for a one-shot win.

Montgomerie had his chances to tie for the lead. The Scotsman made birdie on the 13th to reach 12-under, then hit every green but one in regulation the rest of the way. Normally quite accurate with his irons, Monty couldn’t get dialed in close enough to have viable birdie attempts at Sherwood Country Club.

Pernice began the day with Rocco Mediate and Jay Haas in hot pursuit. Haas went the wrong way early, suffering through three-hole bogey runs on both the front and the back nine. Mediate hung in for a while, but made two doubles over the final four holes while pressing for birdies, ending his title hopes.

Other Tours

The Sanya Open on the Ladies European Tour seemed safe in Caroline Headwall’s grasp. The Swede closed her Sunday front nine with birdies on four holes in a five-hole stretch to take a lead on the field. Her engine sputtered on the inward half with 37, however, and she finished 7-under for the week, one shot out of a playoff.

Supamas Sangchan of Thailand seemed destined for a high finish when she holed a pitch shot for eagle on the par-5 ninth. Her steady, unspectacular inward nine of 1-under was good enough to overtake Headwall and elevate the 20-year-old to her first LET victory.

The PGA Tour Latinoamerica moved along the Andes mountains to Colombia after a week in Peru at Los Inkas. Derek Rende of the U.S. held a one-stroke lead after three rounds, but gave it and more away with a double and a bogey in his first five holes. From that point on, the Colombia Classic was a shootout, with home-country golfers Andres Echavarria, Jesus Amaya and Daniel Zuluaga mixing it up with England’s Kelvin Day and Australia’s Ryan Ruffels.

While Echavarria, Day and Zuluaga went out in e-under, none of them could repeat their performance on the inward half. At the scoring tent, it was Echavarria finishing 8-under, good for a two-stroke win over Zuluaga and Day, and a jump to 10th spot on the season-long money list.

Ronald Montesano writes for GolfWRX.com from western New York. He dabbles in coaching golf and teaching Spanish, in addition to scribbling columns on all aspects of golf, from apparel to architecture, from equipment to travel. Follow Ronald on Twitter at @buffalogolfer.

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Tom

    Oct 31, 2016 at 9:00 am

    That looked like a fun picture to take.

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