Chris Gotterup birdied the first playoff hole to snatch the WM Phoenix Open from Hideki Matsuyama to secure his fourth PGA Tour victory and second this season at TPC Scottsdale.
Matsuyama led by one playing the 72nd hole but after hitting just three fairways all day his Houdini act ended prematurely as he bogeyed the last to card a 68 and drop into a playoff alongside Gotterup who birdied five of his last seven holes to shoot 64 and tie on sixteen-under.
Gotterup carried the fairway bunkers on the right with his tee shot on the first playoff hole leaving him 90 yards while Matsuyama hooked his driver off a rope fence railing and into a water. The Japanese player had to back off his tee shot after a heckle having had to do the same on the 72nd green just minutes earlier.
But it looked like the former Masters champion had pulled another rabbit out of the hat with a sensational recovery shot to set up a 15-foot par chance only for Gotterup to drain his birdie putt first and end what was a thrilling final day on a worthy note.
Gotterup looks set to break into the top-10 for the first time in his career after his second win in three weeks – overtaking Matsuyama in the process – having been outside the top-200 last year.
The American was third at the Open Championship and is red hot heading into the pre-Masters stretch but he wasn’t thinking about any flagship achievements just yet.
“I’ll take a day off Monday that’s for sure. I’m really excited for the rest of the season, a lot of tournaments that I haven’t played yet. This is great but I want more,” said the 26-year-old who is flabbergasted by his sensational run of form.
“If I knew what was going on I would have done it a lot sooner. I’m just having fun right now and I have a ton of people who are helping me and really believe in me. I’m happy for Brady he gets a win at home I had some people here to watch it and it’s awesome.”
Gotterup began the day four shots behind Matsuyama and admitted he wasn’t thinking about winning the tournament and denying him of a third victory in this event.
“When I teed off today I didn’t think I had a chance of winning this tournament. Friday, Saturday I really struggled just didn’t get into a groove. Got off to a good start today and just tried to ride it and once I had birdied 15 I knew I was in the mix then hit a couple of great shots into 17 and the shot into 18 had a lot of luck involved.
“Playoff hole played it awesome and I talked to someone before and they said leave it all out there and I did that.”
World number one Scottie Scheffler put on a late spurt with four birdies in his last six holes but he ultimately came up a shot shy on 15-under after a closing 64 as he shared third place with Akshay Bhatia, Si Woo Kim, Nicolai Hojgaard and Michael Thorbjornsen who held the outright lead on 17-under after eagling the par-5 15th but bogeyed 16 and 17 to let victory slip from his grasp.
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