Here's your DELOFTED Golf Update! Folks, what a Saturday that was at the PGA Phoenix Open? The course was absolutely on fire!
Hideki Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, carded a round of 68 (-3) to snatch the lead after Saturday's third round. The 33-year-old Japanese superstar, who previously won here in 2016 and 2017, recorded five birdies and two bogeys, putting him at 13-under 200 after 54 holes at TPC Scottsdale.
'A really good day today,' Matsuyama said through an interpreter. 'I hope I can just play well tomorrow and stay on top. Having won here twice before certainly helps, but it's a new tournament every time, and a lot of guys at the top will be really going for it. I just need to play well.'
Halfway leader Ryo Hisatsune, ten years Matsuyama's junior and hungry for his maiden PGA Tour win, started alongside his idol and nearly shared the lead with his compatriot. But then he botched a par putt from just over five feet on the 18th hole, taking a bogey and slipping to a tie for second place, at 201 strokes. Pure drama!
'It was something special for Japan to have two Japanese pros in a final group today,' Matsuyama commented. 'I had hoped we could do it again tomorrow.'
Denmark's Nicolai Hojgaard delivered an absolutely sensational round! Five birdies on the last six holes, plus a bogey-free round of 65 – that propelled him into a tie for second place, alongside Hisatsune, American Maverick McNealy (who also shot a 65), and South Korea's Kim Si-woo (66). Incredible play!
'How special it was to play with Hideki,' Hisatsune gushed. 'It's still a really good chance for me to make a mark here.'
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who aims to clinch the Phoenix hat-trick here, also showed what he's made of with a round of 67. He now stands at 205 strokes, having started the day a hefty seven shots back.
'I felt like I was on the verge of doing something special,' Scheffler explained. 'I put myself in a tough spot, but that doesn't mean I'm out of the tournament. The final round can still get really intense!'
Matsuyama is, by the way, chasing his twelfth US PGA Tour title – which would be his first since the Tournament of Champions last year.
Matsuyama had previously shared the lead when he landed in the fairway bunker on the 10th hole, but he hit a sensational shot to just under eleven feet from the flag and sank the birdie putt. Hisatsune, for his part, holed out from just under ten feet for a birdie, remaining at 12-under right at the top. The Japanese duel was heating up!
Then Maverick McNealy came along and showed he was also making a charge: he holed a 33-foot birdie putt on the 14th and tapped in for his third birdie
