Nearly four years to the day, Hideki Matsuyama’s record-equalling Players Championship run was halted by COVID.
Matsuyama was in flying form in 2020 and was looking to bag himself The Players Championship, starting the tournament off in outrageous fashion on March 12.
The Japanese ace performed brilliantly with a sublime nine-under opener, registering a score of 63.
It was just the fifth time in the tournament’s history that such a score had been rolled out at Ponte Vedra.
However, if Matsuyama had pulled out one of the best performances of his career to date – Friday the 13th had something cruel in store.
In the early stages of the COVID crisis, it was first thought that The Players Championship could carry on but without fans and behind closed doors.
But with confirmed cases ballooning, it became evident that a full lockdown was needed to quell the spreading of the disease.
And that meant that The Players Championship was subsequently cancelled on the Friday morning with Matsuyama understandably gutted.
PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan said: “As the situation continued to escalate, and there seemed to be more unknowns, it ultimately became a matter of when, not if, we would need to call it a day.”
Matsuyama had done well considering the bizarre conditions on Thursday with no one present, even hitting an eagle on the final hole to register the first Thursday 63 since Jason Day in 2016.
An incredible run saw him hit four birdies in a row from the tenth, with eight in total.
“I’ve been working hard and have a lot of confidence now in my swing,” said Matsuyama afterwards.
“Last week was a tough week at Bay Hill, but today I made some putts and that seems to be the difference of late and that was really the catapult to me to have a good round today.
“It will be strange tomorrow. I think all of us will have to go back to our college days to play without a gallery.
“But with that said, I know there’s a lot of people watching television and a lot of fans rooting for us and so I’ll do my best.”
While COVID saw The Players Championship cancelled, as well as the next three PGA Tour events, Matsuyama continued his fine form into the next year when the world started to resume some form of normality.
The Masters admitted spectators, albeit in reduced numbers and with social distancing in place, and Matsuyama claimed victory at Augusta – becoming the first Japanese male golfer to win a major championship after finishing with a score of minus-10 – one shot ahead of Will Zalatoris.
News Summary:
- The forgotten round at Players Champ that levelled course record but was ruined by COVID
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