27 October 2019: We know the weather for being fickle, but in Japan this week, it is also showing us that it possesses a wicked sense of humour. There was the downpour on Friday that turned the Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club into a ghost town at resumption on Saturday. An unperturbed Tiger Woods took control with a second straight 64 in the delayed second round. After an early start on Sunday to compensate for lost time, the prolific golfer was on the verge of a historic and memorable victory when the weather forced a closure with seven holes left to play.
Woods enjoys a three-stroke cushion over Hideki Matsuyama, courtesy birdies at the first, fifth and sixth holes in the truncated final round. Earlier in the day, Woods made a 66 to retain his stranglehold on the lead, starting the final round at 16-under. At the close of play on Sunday, Woods was 18-under, with the Japanese star chasing hard at 15-under through twelve holes.
“I’ve tried to increase it. I figured if I stayed where I was, I was not going to have the lead. I had to make birdies. The golf course was soft, it was pretty benign and I felt like I just had to continue making birdies. For the most part, I did that. It’s not that easy, and considering that I had the stress of having the lead and being under the gun for that long, it’s a long period of time having come off of a knee procedure and haven’t really stressed it like this,” explained Woods. Well, if I do what I’m supposed to do and get the job done, then I get a W. I guess that will add up to the 82 number, but my main focus is doing what I need to do to get the ‘W’ first.”
Matsuyama made a 65, matching his opening round score to push his case for a potentially euphoric win at home against a world-class field of golfers. Among the field is Rory McIlroy. The Northern Irishman produced a scintillating 63 to throw his hat in the ring. McIlroy looks set to settle for a top ten finish this week, lying in fifth at 11-under through 16 holes in the final round.
“Three strokes behind right now. I have a lot of ground to make up tomorrow. I need to play well to even have a chance, but I will give a shot and do my best. Most of my drives went over fairways but it was shaky. I made a good drive on one and I managed to make two birdies on the last two holes, which was nice,” said Matsuyama. “The leader (Woods) has an extremely high possibility of winning if he is leading solo after 54 holes, doesn’t he? But I am only thinking about how to catch up and win the tournament. In the final round, I could not play well but let’s see what it is going to happen in the last six holes tomorrow. Anyway, I need to do my best.”
Sandwiched between McIlroy and Matsuyama are Sungjae Im and Gary Woodland. The Korean has only four holes left to play while Woodland has eight more to go to complete his duties for the week.
Woods has secured victory on 43 of the 45 times he enjoyed an outright lead at the end of the third round. And Monday could see him continuing that fine tradition when he makes some more golfing history.
Bogey-free rounds
R1 (2): Gary Woodland (64), Ryo Ishikawa (68)
R2 (6): Collin Morikawa (64), Corey Conners (64), Matthew Wolff (65), J.T. Poston (65), Satoshi Kodaira (66), Shugo Imahira (69)
R3 (5): Charles Howell III (66), Shane Lowry (67), Adam Schenk (68), Kevin Kisner (68), Ryan Palmer (69)
