Hideki Matsuyama's Resurgence and Top Form in 2024

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00:00Hideki Matsuyama, who I believe shot 65 today. I think really Hideki, the story of his week

00:09was he was kind of done in by a rough performance on Saturday. He was leading after two days

00:13and just had a rough round and then goes out and plays great again on Sunday. You know,

00:19where are we at on him? We saw him win the Genesis earlier this year that we were just

00:24talking about with Zander and can't land that final group and a guy who's finding some form

00:28heading into the FedExCup playoffs. Like, is this a guy that could be hunting coming

00:32in a playoff season? Oh yeah, totally. So, and I think Hideki this year, it's, it's,

00:37it's been a bit of a resurgence I feel like, because I, I feel like maybe the prior couple

00:41of years, I just, I just didn't feel like Hideki was the same guy. And this year I think

00:45it was a wake up call, you know, being able to turn the TV off with 45 minutes left in

00:50the Genesis broadcast. Cause I mean, Hideki just put on an absolute clinic at Riviera.

00:56So actually let's, let's bookmark that in for four years for when, when the Olympics

01:02is at Riviera that Hideki's had some success there winning, winning a Genesis this year.

01:06But you know, he's had a year where he's had six top tens. I think from watching him over

01:11the last couple of years, I'm, I've just constantly blown away at how good his short game is around

01:18the greens, his pitching, his bunker game. It is on this, it's on another level and it's

01:24really been as good as it's ever been in his career this year. And not that that was an

01:30X factor of why he got the bronze medal this year, because I actually think his, his iron

01:35game is, is what's really come back. We're so known for him, you know, there's these

01:39iron shots where he just doesn't like them. And you're like, Oh God, is it in the waters

01:42in the bunker? And it's like 10 feet. And that's the Hideki that we grew up watching

01:46and that we, we have come to love because he's he's a monster when he gets rolling,

01:51especially for him. He seems to me to be a guy that when he gets a hot putter and that

01:57ball striking there and how good a short game can be, you know, he's, he's not the longest

02:01player in the world, but he's, he's also very much a pass to her average. And then he's

02:07also somewhat accurate with that driver's too. So if he's able to put the ball in the

02:11fairway, give himself opportunities. And he was able to do that this week, but you mentioned

02:15Charlie, that Saturday wasn't his best. And I think, I think back to Tokyo where,

02:21you know, he had an opportunity to, to win a gold medal there. And he is, he is Japan

02:27like golf Hideki Matsuyama. He is the superstar. He is the guy. So all that pressure and then

02:33getting in that crazy playoff for the bronze medal doesn't end up winning. So he's, he's got

02:39the, the feeling of, I want to win a medal at the Olympics and does that this year with having

02:45to avoid a playoff, not having to, to, to have to sweat out another playoff. And he's able to

02:50take a medal back home to his home country, Japan.