Ohio, United States: Hideki Matsuyama gave himself a timely boost ahead of this week's US Open with a tied eighth finish at The Memorial Tournament.
The 32-year-old Japanese, Asia’s most decorated golfer on the PGA Tour with nine wins, heads to Pinehurst Resort for the year’s third Major with key elements of his game in good order after closing with a two-under 70 at Muirfield Village to finish seven shots behind winner, Scottie Scheffler.
Korean Im Sung-jae also finished equal eighth after a 73 for his third top-10 in his last four starts to set himself up for a strong week at the US Open, which will see American Wyndham Clark defending his title.
Matsuyama’s third top-10 at the Memorial presented by Workday, in addition to a victory in 2014 for his maiden Tour triumph, has set him up nicely for a title challenge at Pinehurst, although he acknowledges there is fine-tuning to be done in the days ahead.
“I’m trying to figure things out … and hoping it comes together soon,” said two-time Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship winner Matsuyama, who remains in ninth position on the FedEx Cup standings.
He was delighted with how his flat stick behaved all week, ranking second in Strokes Gained: Putting on the final day where he holed putts of 19 feet and 17 feet on the fifth and 11th holes for two of his four birdies. He also drained a nine-footer on the second hole for par.
At Pinehurst, Matsuyama will be relying on a strong short game to bolster his bid for a second Major title to go with his 2021 Masters Tournament win. At the Memorial, he ranked first in Scrambling, saving pars on 26 of 32 holes including seven of eight during the final round. He also ranked 10th in Strokes Gained: Around the Greens at Muirfield Village.
“Thanks to that putt (on two), I think I was able to make a few more putts after that,” said Matsuyama, who won February’s Genesis Invitational. “Today (putting) felt pretty good. There are still some nerves, but it was one of the better things. I’ll look back at what I did over those two rounds and see if I can find what I was doing and put that into play for next week.”
Matsuyama has often thrived at the US Open where Pinehurst will be his 12th successive appearance in the Major where he holds three career top-10s and only one missed cut. His best was a tied second at Erin Hills in 2017 where he finished four shots behind winner Brooks Koepka. He was fourth in 2022 after closing with a 65 at The Country Club and tied 10th at Merion in 2013. When he played in Pinehurst in 2014, Matsuyama finished joint 39th.