Chris Gotterup defeated Hideki Matsuyama on the first playoff hole to win the 2026 WM Phoenix Open. This is his second win of the season, his first being the Sony Open in January.
Gotterup started the final round four shots behind Matsuyama. He got off to a fast start with three birdies in his first five holes. He finished the front nine at 11-under after shooting a 2-under-33.
Matsuyama also shot 33 on the front nine but hit no fairways. He made birdie on the par-5 13th and 15th holes to take the lead. Two straight pars starting on the 16th hole gave him a one-shot lead heading to the 18th tee.
Gotterup birdied the 10th hole but dropped a shot on the 12th hole. He quickly bounced back with three consecutive birdies starting on hole 13. He then finished his round with back-to-back birdies to set the clubhouse lead at 16-under.
Matsuyama just needed a par on the 18th hole to capture his third WM Phoenix Open title. His tee shot found the church pew bunkers down the left side of the fairway. The shot from the bunker hit the lip and came up forty yards short of the green. He failed to get up and down, sending him to a playoff with Gotterup. While some are touting crowd interference on Matsuyama’s final hole – and during the playoff – others are saying his driving hasn’t been accurate all day.
On the first playoff hole, Gotterup found the fairway while Matsuyama hit his tee shot in the water. Gotterup hit his approach shot to 27 feet while Matsuyama had to take a drop before hitting his third shot to 26 feet. Gotterup went first and hit his putt dead center for his fourth-career PGA Tour win.
Gotterup’s 7-under-64 ties his lowest career final round, and his nine birdies ties the most in a round for Gotterup. He now has three wins in his last 11 eleven starts and had this to say about it in his press conference:
“I feel confident in what I’m doing and feel like I have played well enough to feel confident to be able to be in those positions. So far, I’ve been able to capitalize on those, and I’m excited for the rest of the year. I’ve got a bunch of tournaments coming up that I haven’t played in some cool spots. Really just looking forward to what’s to come.”
The first signature event of the 2026 season is the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am next week in California. Rory McIlroy will look to defend his title against a field that includes nine of the top 10 players in the Official World Golf Rankings.
