[서울=뉴스핌] Reporter Kim Yong-seok = Hideki Matsuyama won the Sony Open comeback championship.
Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) finished the 4th round of the Sony Open (total prize money of $7.5 million) on the PGA Tour held at the Waialai Country Club (par 70, 7044 yards) in Honolulu, Hawaii on the 17th (Korean time). After hitting a tie with Russell Henry at 23-under 257, he won the championship.
| Hideki Matsuyama, who won the PGA Tour Sony Open (total prize money of $7.5 million) after extra time. 2022.01.17 fineview@newspim.com |
Hideki Matsuyama, who won the Jojo Championship in Japan in October of last year, recorded eight PGA victories. The prize money for the championship is 1.35 million dollars (about 1.6 billion won). Matsuyama has won the tournament as a Japanese player since Isao Aoki in 1983. In addition, he was the only player on the PGA Tour this season to win two, taking the top spot in the FedEx Cup. He was tied for 13th in the Sentry Championship tournament that ended last week.
The game was decided in the first overtime on the 18th (par 5) hole. Seeing Henry’s first tee shot falling into the bunker again, Matsuyama changed the club to a 3-wood and hit the tee shot. After that, Matsuyama, who grabbed the wood again and placed it around 30 cm of the hole cup, did not miss the opportunity to eagle. Henry recorded an example.
On that day, Russell Henry caught an eagle on the par 5 ninth hole with four birdies, including three in a row, and reduced six strokes in the first half alone. But in the second half, he faltered and lost his rhythm. After bogeying on the par 3 11th hole, he couldn’t reduce his at-bats.
Hideki Matsuyama, who became the first Asian player to wear a Masters championship jacket last year, took advantage of this opportunity. After catching three birdies without bogey in the first half, he made two birdies immediately at the start of the second half, and then reduced one more shot on the 15th (par 4) hole to narrow the gap with leading Henry by one stroke. Henry’s tee shot on the par 5 18th hole fell into a bunker. Matsuyama, who kept the fairway, caught a birdie, while Henry was only par, leading to overtime.
Kevin Na, a Korean American ‘Defending Champ’ who took the lead on the first day, finished the contest in a tie for 20th (13 under par).
For the first time in the season, Lee Kyung-hoon hit his 60s (69-66-69-68) over four days. On the last day, Lee Kyung-hoon, who cut two strokes with five birdies and three bogeys, finished tied for 48th with a final total of 8-under 272, and Kim Si-woo was tied for 55th (7-under).
Im Seong-jae, who tied for 8th in the first competition of the New Year’s season, missed the cut after 7 months of this competition.
fineview@newspim.com
