February 08, 2016: The final few minutes of the Waste Management Phoenix Open turned into a Hollywood scale thriller, with Rickie Fowler battling a sudden bout of demons even as Hideki Matsuyama produced some brilliant clutch golf to clinch victory. Fowler dampened his own chances by sinking two balls into the water on the par-4 17th hole. Matsuyama took the generous opportunity with both hands to stay calm and march to victory on the fourth playoff hole.
But Matsuyama needed a couple of late birdies just to enter the playoff, before getting past an erring Fowler on the fourth playoff hole. India’s Anirban Lahiri produced a 69 on Sunday for a four-under total of 280 and tied 33 at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.
Lahiri has enjoyed an up and down week in Arizona at a packed TPC Scottsdale. He started his week with a sensational 66 before slipping down the order after making a disappointing 74 on Friday. He added a 71 in the third round, before making four birdies and two bogeys to end the tournament inside the top 40.
If Fowler was already hurting from squandering a two-shot lead on the 317-yard hole in regulation, his wounds were exacerbated due to his sudden slip in form during the playoff. Fowler sailed a driver through the green and into the water and then pulled a 5-wood into the lake on the fourth hole of a playoff, working to a bogey that cost him victory. All Matsuyama had to do after that was to two-putt from inside 10 feet to end the playoff.
The leadup to the playoff was sensational – Matsuyama made a birdie from nearly twenty feet before Fowler responded with a birdie putt from 10-feet on the final hole in regulation. The two players made similar scores of 67 for an overall total of 14-under 270.
The crowd numbers have been decimated this past week – the 65,330 Sunday crowd took the week total to a record 618,365, breaking the previous mark of 564,368 set in 2015.
