{"id":414705,"date":"2026-02-08T14:18:12","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T14:18:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/414705\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T14:18:12","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T14:18:12","slug":"wm-phoenix-open-hideki-matsuyama-holds-one-shot-lead-after-third-round-with-matt-fitzpatrick-poised-for-final-day-charge-golf-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/414705\/","title":{"rendered":"WM Phoenix Open: Hideki Matsuyama holds one-shot lead after third round with Matt Fitzpatrick poised for final day charge | Golf News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Hideki Matsuyama holds a one-shot lead at the Phoenix Open after the third round, but England&#8217;s Matt Fitzpatrick is two behind and poised to mount a final day charge. <\/p>\n<p>Matsuyama finished the day three-under-par on 68 despite narrowly missing a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th.<\/p>\n<p>The 33-year-old Japanese, who won the Phoenix title in 2016 and 2017, was earlier tied with Ryo Hisatsune but took the lead when his compatriot bogeyed the 18th to finish a shot behind.<\/p>\n<p>Hisatsune is joined by Nicolai Hojgaard, Si Woo Kim and Maverick McNealy, who are all tied for second.<\/p>\n<p>Fitzpatrick, meanwhile, is another shot off the pace on 11-under-par and in a four-way tie alongside Americans Michael Thorbjornsen, Jake Knapp and Akshay Bhatia.<\/p>\n<p>World No 1 Scottie Scheffler carded a 67 in the third round to sit five shots of the lead.<\/p>\n<p>Scheffler is still in the hunt for a 21st PGA Tour title and second of 2026, after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.skysports.com\/golf\/news\/12040\/13499037\/scottie-scheffler-wins-20th-pga-tour-title-at-the-american-express-finishing-four-clear-after-final-round-66\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">January&#8217;s American Express<\/a>, and will take inspiration from the event four years ago, when he won from nine shots back.<\/p>\n<p>          <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"sdc-article-image__item\" loading=\"lazy\" intrinsicsize=\"768x432\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/skysports-scottie-scheffler_7158925.jpg\"   alt=\"SCOTTSDALE, AZ - FEBRUARY 07: Scottie Scheffler (USA)chips on to 2 during the third round of the Waste Management Phoenix Open on February 7, 2026, at TPC Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona. (Photo by Ken Murray\/Icon Sportswire) (Icon Sportswire via AP Images)\" data-testid=\"article-image-image\"\/><\/p>\n<p>        Image:<br \/>\n        Scottie Scheffler is on eight under par. (Photo by Ken Murray\/Icon Sportswire via AP)<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;I&#8217;ve always been a proponent of saying you can&#8217;t really find it during the tournament week, but I found a little something in my grip yesterday that seemed to really help me get my hands more securely on the club,&#8221; Scheffler told PGATour.com on Saturday.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Struck it much better today. Felt a bit lost out there at times yesterday, so today felt a lot better. Felt more in control of my game. You can obviously see that through the cleaner card today.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Watch the final round of the WM Phoenix Open live on Sky Sports Golf from 5pm on Sunday. Coverage also picks up on Sky Sports Main Event from 8pm. <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nowtv.com\/membership\/watch-sky-sports?DCMP=ilc_skysports_nc_articlelink\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Stream contract-free on NOW.<\/a><\/p>\n<p>        <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/golfnow-logo.png\" class=\"sdc-interactive-golfnow__branding-image\" alt=\"Golf Now logo.\"\/><\/p>\n<p id=\"sdc-interactive-golfnow__branding-text\" class=\"sdc-interactive-golfnow__branding-text\">Get the best prices and book a round at one of 1,700 courses across the UK &amp; Ireland<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Hideki Matsuyama holds a one-shot lead at the Phoenix Open after the third round, but England&#8217;s Matt Fitzpatrick&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414706,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[39],"tags":[5904,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-414705","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-golf","tag-golf","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414705","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414705"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414705\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414706"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414705"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414705"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414705"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}