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USPGA Championship Each-Way Tips: Make it Matsuyama

Dave Tindall
16 May 2022
4:00 min read

Hideki Matsuyama can land his second major

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The year's second major takes place in Tulsa and Dave Tindall has three each-way tips for the action at Southern Hills...

"Matsuyama is 4th on the All-Around ranking this season which is ideal given JT's observation that every facet of the game is important at Southern Hills."
Back Hideki Matsuyama each-way @ 29.028/1

Main Bet: Hideki Matsuyama each-way @ 29.028/1

I went to the 2001 US Open at Southern Hills and yet have very few memories of the course.

Perhaps that's just as well given that the Perry Maxwell design has undergone a serious Gil Hanse renovation since then.

That came in 2019 so does that mean course form from 2001 and also the 2007 US PGA staged there can be ignored?

Well, not really. Since the redesign, Southern Hills has staged the 2021 Senior PGA Championship and, as with 2001 and 2007, the standout stat seemed to be Greens In Regulation.

That's a starting point but what else have we picked up in the build-up?

Tiger Woods headed there for a practice round a couple of weeks ago and employed the club's director of golf, Cary Cozby, as his caddie.

Cozby inevitably said some nice things about Tiger but he also told Golf Oklahoma: "Whoever wins here is going to have to be a great chipper."

Jordan Spieth, who played it in a US Amateur in his teens, elaborated on that, saying: "I thought the golf course was fantastic. I loved it. I think the green complexes are perfectly fitting to the holes.

"The greens play maybe three quarters of the size that they actually are. There's a lot more runoffs than I remember into Bermuda chipping areas and into runoff areas that are mowed. So you can be left with a lot of really delicate little shots."

Justin Thomas also dropped a few clues. "I really, really liked it. I thought tee to green it was excellent. I thought it challenged kind of all facets of your game. You have to work the ball quite a bit, you have to, you really, really have to be good around the greens. You can't fake your way around it.

"And it's tough to chip. I mean the balls roll off the green, they go pretty far away. You get some grainy, elevated greens to where it's difficult to get the ball around the hole and over the course of the round in a tournament that can be quite a few shots."

Steve Rawlings in his excellent in-depth preview mentions some similarities to Augusta National and Portrush in terms of chipping around the greens and I'm in full agreement.

So, my headline pick is Hideki Matsuyama.

Let's pull up some relevant stats given the quotes we've looked at so far.

Matsuyama is 4th on the All-Around ranking this season which is ideal given JT's observation that every facet of the game is important at Southern Hills.

The World No.11 is 7th for Greens In Regulation and 6th for Approach while he ranks 22nd in Scrambling.

Does he hit it far enough for this lengthy 7,546-yard par 70? That would be a yes given Matsuyama's 44th spot in Driving Distance (305.5 yards).

The links to Augusta have to bode well given his brilliant win there last year and excellent overall body of work which shows seven top 20s in his last eight visits.

It's also worth noting how well he's chipped at Augusta National. Looking at the stats from past years and he's been ranked in the top 13 for Scrambling there six times in the last eight editions.

A winner of the Sony Open in January - seven of the last US PGA champions had posted a victory earlier that same season - Matsuyama heads to Southern Hills on the back of fast-finishing third spot in the AT&T Byron Nelson where all his numbers were good.

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He ranked 1st for Approach in Texas and will surely have a spring in his step after walking off the course with a 62 after an eagle at 18.

Also, I like the idea of players winning majors in bunches, something we've seen with Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa and Padraig Harrington to name a few.

Given he won the US Masters last year, this looks a great chance for him to follow it up on a course that should suit him.

Three of his last four wins have come on par 70s and his 11th place for Par 4 Scoring Average suggests he can thrive without the par fives once again.

Back Matsuyama at 28/1.

Next Best: Talor Gooch each-way @ 101.0100/1

With 10 each-way places, I want to play someone at a three-figure price.

I've looked at Christiaan Bezuidenhout and Matt Kuchar, both strong chippers of the ball.

But a lack of length perhaps puts me off.

So, instead, I'll back a player ranked a healthy 69th in Driving Distance (301.8 yards), Talor Gooch.

For starters, there's a big local angle at play here as Gooch went to Oklahoma State and still lives in Oklahoma.

He'll have extra familiarity with the winds and grasses so that's some nice bonus material to have behind us before we even look at his other credentials. But more on that later.

Going straight to three categories mentioned so far, the 30-year-old ranks 26th for Greens In Regulation, 7th for SG: Around The Green and 2nd on the All-Around.

Those skills helped him gain a first win when he landed the RSM Classic in November.

He ranked 4th for both GIR and Scrambling at Sea Island while his short-game skills were also in evidence at the US Masters on his most recent solo start.

Gooch was thrilled to make his debut at Augusta and dealt with the excitement to finish in a tie for 14th. That made him the joint-highest debutant.

Notably, he ranked 4th for Scrambling at Augusta so was sharp in an area that looks so important at Southern Hills.

Ah, yes, Southern Hills. Given his local connections, does he know it well?

Gooch is a regular on The 73rd Hole (the official podcast of Golf Oklahoma) and said this about Southern Hills on the March 28th edition: "I'm super, super pumped. It's one of my favourite courses in the world." That'll do!

He played his first US Amateur there when still a junior in high school in 2009 so it's a big deal to be returning 13 years on in a major.

Also tied fifth at The Players Championship last year, if Gooch drives it well, the rest of his game is good enough to get in the hunt.

Final Bet: Patrick Cantlay each-way @ 21.020/1

As well as Matsuyama I want to pick someone else from the elite bracket given that five of the last 10 winners of the US PGA were ranked in the top five in the world.

Scottie Scheffler, Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa all deserve huge respect but, at the prices, preference is for World No. 5 Patrick Cantlay.

Cantlay is 20/1 and that seems a very playable price given the 10 each-way places.

Here's a stat: No-one on the PGA Tour has more wins than Cantlay's five since October 2020.

His hot-streak last autumn helped Cantlay win the FedEx Cup while he's been throwing all around the bullseye in 2022, losing playoffs at the Waste Management Phoenix Open in February and the RBC Heritage last month.

In his only start since then, Cantlay teamed up with Xander Schauffele to capture the Zurich Classic of New Orleans so he heads to Southern Hills with form of 1-2.

Looking at his stats, Cantlay ranks 12th for Scrambling this season, 11th on the All-Around and 5th for Birdie Average.

With 18 of the last 26 majors having gone to a new entrant to that exclusive club, Cantlay must surely be one of the next cabs off the rank.

His closest brush is tied third in this event at Bethpage Black in 2019 and it's high time he challenged seriously again.

If I had a fourth pick it would be Shane Lowry and his exchange price of 44.043/1 definitely appeals.

He's a brilliant chipper and the links to Portrush where he won the 2019 Open and Augusta where he was third last month could be great pointers.

Jordan Spieth's second place at the AT&T Byron Nelson must also give a big boost to his chances. The American has a strong history of shining the week before a major and then taking that hot play into the big one itself.

He has the extra weight of winning the Grand Slam, the US PGA the final one of the set he needs.

Rory McIlroy? I'd love to see it and wouldn't put anyone off given his recent fine play.

But I'll go with Matsuyama, Cantlay and Gooch as my three to make some history at Southern Hills.