Matsuyama's win, Ballester's U.S. Am Championship headline busy week in golf | The Sunday Swing

The Sunday Swing 
August 18th, 2024

Welcome back to another edition of the Sunday Swing presented by 2nd Swing Golf. It was another busy week in the world of golf, with the PGA Tour kicking off its FedEx Cup Playoffs in Memphis while the LPGA Tour was in Scotland for the Women’s Scottish Open. Also noteworthy this week was the 124th playing of the U.S. Amateur from Hazeltine National and Chaska Town Course right here in Minnesota.

FedEx St. Jude - Tournament History 

The FedEx St. Jude Championship was originally founded in 1967 in the New Jersey / New York area as the Westchester Classic. For the majority of the tournament's existence it has been played in the greater New Jersey area at multiple different venues. It wasn’t until 2021 that the event relocated to Memphis and TPC Southwind and FedEx took over as the title sponsor.

Designed by Ron Prichard and opening in 1988, TPC Southwind plays as a 7,244 yard par-70. This year the top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings qualify for the field, but only the top 50 after this week will advance to next week's BMW Championship. With FedEx Cup points at a premium in the playoffs, every shot matters and can drastically change a players position- especially on Sunday. It’s not uncommon for players to either birdie get in on the final hole, or bogey and fall out. This year is no different, and players like Victor Perez, Davis Riley, Emiliano Grillo, and Jhonattan Vegas all enter the week hovering right on the bubble. Not on the bubble are guys like Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, Rory McIlroy, and Hideki Matsuyama – who have all locked up their positions in the Tour Championship in a couple of weeks.

The Big Swing 

This week the big swing belongs to Hideki Matsuyama after he claimed his first ever FedEx Cup playoff event in dramatic fashion. On his way to Memphis from the Olympics last week, Matsuyama and his team were robbed at the London Airport while having dinner. Luckily for Hideki, he only lost his wallet. His caddie and coach weren’t as fortunate, and they both lost their passports and were unable to return to the United States with Hideki. 

Despite playing with a new putter and a new caddy, Matsuyama blitzed the field through three rounds shooting 65, 64, and 64 to take a five-shot lead heading into the final round. The new putter was working perfectly as Matsuyama led the field in strokes gained: putting through three rounds. 

On Sunday, all seemed to be going to plan. Matsuyama was in the driver's seat at 2-under through 11 still holding a five-shot lead at the time. The 12th hole is where things took a turn. Matsuyama made his first bogey of the day, and his lead was trimmed for the first time. After a par on 13, Matsuyama made another bogey at the 14th. Meanwhile, Xander Schauffele was bogey free and 6-under through 13 on his round, suddenly within striking distance. Defending FedEx Cup champ Viktor Hovland also started to creep a bit closer and was 5-under though 16.

A disastrous double bogey on the 15th dropped Matsuyama to -15 into a three-way tie for the lead with Schauffele and Hovland. Other contenders like Nick Dunlap, Scottie Scheffler, and Sam Burns were also in the mix. Matsuyama then failed to birdie the par-5 16th, which played as the easiest hole on the course, seemingly opening the door to all the other contenders. Hovland walked through that door momentarily with a birdie at No. 16 to take the solo lead, but gave it right back with a bogey at No. 17. 

Hovland and Schauffele would both finish at 15-under-par. Matsuyama would have to dig deep just to make pars on the final two holes, both playing difficult all week.  Just when things were looking dire for Matsuyama, he canned a 26-footer for birdie at the 17th and had re-claimed the solo lead. Just needing a par at the difficult and demanding par-4 18th, Hideki striped a 3-wood on an aggressive line that ended up being absolutely perfect. He proceeded hit a laser of an approach shot to six feet, made the putt and walked off the green with a two-shot victory. The win is Matsuyama’s first FedEx Cup playoff win, and his 10th on the PGA Tour.

Winner’s Bag - Hideki Matsuyama 

For the 2nd time this season, Hideki Matsuyama is a PGA Tour winner. The Srixon staffer has a pretty unique bag of clubs featuring a variety of brands. Off the tee, he plays the Srixon ZX5 MK2 LS (9.5 degrees). His 3-wood is a Taylormade Qi10 (15 degrees), while his 5-wood is a Cobra King RadSpeed Tour (19 degrees). Powering one of the best iron players of the modern era is a set of Srixon ZX forged irons (4-9 iron). Around the greens, Hiedki carries four Cleveland RTX 4 Forged Prototype wedges (48, 52, 56, & 60 degrees). The highlight for the week is Hideki’s new putter- a Scotty Cameron Craftsman Squareback Tour Protoype. Hideki plays the Srixon Z-Star XV golf ball.

Key Stats: 
Strokes Gained: Off the Tee- 15th
Strokes Gained: Approach to Green: 3rd
Strokes Gained: Around the Green- 68th
Strokes Gained: Putting- 1st
Strokes Gained: Total- 1st

Women’s Scottish Open

Similar to the PGA Tour, the LPGA also hosts a Scottish Open, this year being hosted at Dundonald Links. With the AIG Women’s Open being hosted at St. Andrews next week, many of the world's best players used this week as preparation for the season's final major. Recent gold medalist Lydia Ko was amongst those in the field this week, along with Charley Hull, Jim Young Ko, Lauren Coughlin, Minjee Lee, Georgia Hall, and many more. 

Despite the naturally difficult scoring conditions in Scotland, the players were able to shoot some pretty low scores throughout the week, setting up for what should be a very exciting Open Championship next week. Esther Henseleit has arguably been one of the biggest stories on the LPGA Tour this year. The 25-year-old from Germany has exploded onto the scene in America this season after having much success in the European Tour. This season alone, Henseleit has posted top-15’s in three of the four majors so far this year. In Paris, she earned the silver medal after a legendary Sunday charge, only eventually being beaten by Ko. 

Henseleit continued her strong play this week, carding four rounds under par and finishing solo second. But nobody could catch Lauren Coughlin. The 31-year-old American finally broke through for her first LPGA Tour win at the Women’s Canadian Open just a few weeks ago and carried the momentum overseas. This week, she was the only player in the field to shoot all four rounds in the 60’s, posting 15-under par and winning by a comfortable margin of four shots over Henseleit. With her two wins, Coughlin matches PGA Tour’s Robert MacIntyre as both players won the Canadian and Scottish Opens on their respective tours this year. In both cases, the wins marked both players first wins on the PGA and LPGA Tour.

U.S. Amateur 

The US Amateur is one of the oldest and most prestigious amateur golf championships in the world. It is operated and governed by the United States Golf Association (USGA) and features the top amateur golfers from around the globe. The format consists of two rounds of stroke play to determine which players will advance to match play to determine the winner. The event has a rich history and has been won by many legendary golfers before they turned professional, including Tiger Woods who is the only player to win three consecutive (1994-1996). 

This year marks the 124th playing of the U.S. Amateur Championship, and it was hosted in the Twin Cities area at the Chaska Town Course and Hazeltine National Golf Club. Hazeltine is a household name for golf fans. The venue has hosted dozens of prestigious national events over the years, most notably Ryder Cups, PGA Championships, US Opens, and US Amateurs.

This year the field was a full 312 players from around the world, including 2nd Swing’s own Jacob Pedersen – a team member at the 2nd Swing Minnetonka store and a former player at the University of Minnesota. 

One of the big stories this week was Luke Clanton, a 20-year-old from Florida who has been having success on the PGA Tour lately playing on sponsor’s exemptions. Clanton played in last week’s Wyndham Championship, finishing solo fifth place after playing 39 holes on Sunday due to weather delays all week. He then flew into Minneapolis late Sunday night and was ready to go again Monday morning for the first round of stroke play. Clanton was able to place in the top 64 of stroke play to advance to the match play bracket, but was eventually eliminated in the round of 32 by Jackson Buchanan. 

The championship match was played between Spain’s Jose Luis Ballester and America's Noah Kent. The 36-hole match opened with Ballester winning the first three holes. Kent spent the next 32 holes doing everything in his power to claw back into the match. Kent would go on a run beginning on Nos. 31 and 32, winning both to trim the deficit in half from 4-down to 2-down. 

Kent would then win the 34th hole, tie the 35th, and head to the final hole just one down. Needing birdie, Kent found the fairway bunker off the tee and was forced to get aggressive on his approach from the fairway bunker. Short-sided long and left, Kent was forced to take his chances from 30 feet for par. With Ballester sitting with 25 feet for birdie, Kent was in a must make situation. Kent failed to make his long par effort, leaving Ballester with three putts to win. The victory for the 21-year-old Spainard was historic – he’s the first Spaniard to ever win the US Amateur.