{"id":455617,"date":"2026-02-08T03:08:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T03:08:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/455617\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T03:08:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T03:08:08","slug":"matsuyama-holds-slim-phoenix-open-lead-with-scheffler-lurking","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/455617\/","title":{"rendered":"Matsuyama holds slim Phoenix Open lead with Scheffler lurking"},"content":{"rendered":"

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Hideki Matsuyama<\/a> was thrilled to play with fellow Japanese player Ryo Hisatsune<\/a> in the final pairing at the Phoenix Open and hoped they could do it again.<\/p>\n

Hisatsune’s bogey on 18 put an end to that.<\/p>\n

Matsuyama may have bigger things to worry about with top-ranked Scottie Scheffler<\/a> lurking.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Picks<\/a><\/p>\n

Matsuyama shot a 3-under 68 despite some missed opportunities down the stretch to take a one-shot lead Saturday.<\/p>\n

“Kind of a first today for Japan to have two Japanese pros play in a final group,” Matsuyama said through a translator. “I was hoping we could do it tomorrow, but, again, I hope tomorrow just to play well and stay on top.”<\/p>\n

He’ll need to after Scheffler worked his way up the leaderboard at TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course for the second straight day.<\/p>\n

In danger of missing his first cut since 2022 with a shaky first round, Scheffler backed up a second-round 65 with a 67 on Saturday to pull within five shots.<\/p>\n

He’s been in this position before, rallying from nine shots down to win the 2022 Phoenix Open for his first PGA Tour victory.<\/p>\n

“Going to need a special round,” he said. “I’ll be starting on the front nine tomorrow, so if I can get out there and make a few birdies on the harder nine and get some momentum going into the back, you never know what can happen.”<\/p>\n

Catching Matsuyama could be tough.<\/p>\n

The Japanese star failed to get up-and-down from near the green on the short par-4 17th and left a 15-foot birdie putt on the lip at 18, but still finished at 13-under 200.<\/p>\n

Hideki Matsuyama shot a 3-under 68 despite some missed opportunities down the stretch to take a one-shot lead at the Phoenix Open on Saturday.\u00a0Alex Goodlett\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

The two-time Phoenix Open champion was tied with Hisatsune after 17 holes, but took the outright lead into the final round after his countryman failed to get up-and-down from the greenside bunker for a bogey on 18. Hisatsune shot 70 to finish at 12 under.<\/p>\n

Nicolai Hojgaard had five birdies his final six holes to shoot a bogey-free 65. Maverick McNealy<\/a> had a stretch of four birdies in five holes on the back nine to shoot 65. Si Woo Kim<\/a> had an eagle on the par-5 third hole to shoot 66 and join them at 12 under.<\/p>\n

“There is a lot of guys there at the top that will be battling, so I just need to play well,” Matsuyama said.<\/p>\n

Hisatsune shot 63 in the second round to surge ahead of Matsuyama by a shot, setting up a third-round “dream” final pairing with the player who inspired so many young Japanese players.<\/p>\n

Neither could get much going on the front nine.<\/p>\n

Matsuyama had birdies on three of his first four holes, including a 27-footer over a swale on the par-3 fourth. He also bogeyed Nos. 2 and 5 when he couldn’t get up-and-down, making the turn at 1 under 34.<\/p>\n

Hisatsune couldn’t gain much traction, either, turning in even par with two birdies and two pars.<\/p>\n

Matsuyama birdied the par-4 10th hole and added another with a two putt at the par-5 13th to take the lead at 13, but closed with five straight pars.<\/p>\n

Hisatsune also birdied 10 and got up and down on the short par-4 17th for birdie to tie for the lead before he missed an 8-foot par putt on 18.<\/p>\n

“I’m happy to be minus-1, so ready for tomorrow,” Hisatsune said through an interpreter.<\/p>\n

A grip change altered Scheffler’s outlook after a shaky 73 in the first round.<\/p>\n

Scheffler had his first birdie on the par-4 eighth and holed out a bunker shot at No. 10 for the first of consecutive birdies. He followed a three-putt bogey on the par-3 12th by getting up and down for birdie on the two back-nine par 5s, 13 and 15.<\/p>\n

But then he stalled out.<\/p>\n

Scheffler missed a birdie putt on No. 16, couldn’t get up-and-down from pin high on the par-4 17th and missed another birdie on 18.<\/p>\n

“I feel very comfortable where I am at and where my game is at,” he said.<\/p>\n

That could spell trouble for the rest of the field, even at five shots back.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. — Hideki Matsuyama was thrilled to play with fellow Japanese player Ryo Hisatsune in the final…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":455618,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[71],"tags":[427,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-455617","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-golf","8":"tag-golf","9":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=455617"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/455617\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/455618"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=455617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=455617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=455617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}