For the ceremony that marked the beginning of TPC Southwind, soil was delivered to Memphis, Tennessee, from all across the country. According to a story in the local newspaper, the soil came from the Tournament Players Clubs that were previously established and included the “rich, black silt” of Florida’s TPC Sawgrass and the “sandy loam” of the Arizona desert.
The purpose of the so-called “groundraising” ceremony was to indicate that this new course will be constructed similarly to its predecessors, with an emphasis on drama and intended audience participation. They would have lofty vantage points from which to view a final stretch when anything may happen due to the mounds that bordered the fairways.
The PGA TOUR Commissioner at the time, Deane Beman, stated, “The idea behind a Tournament Players Club stadium course is to make sure when you come to the golf course, you get your money’s worth.”
That theory is still proven by TPC Southwind, as demonstrated once more on Sunday when Hideki Matsuyama prevailed by two strokes in the FedEx St. Jude Championship despite a wild back nine. Despite having a five-shot lead at the beginning of the day, Matsuyama needed to win by birdieing the last two holes. By scoring birdies on holes 17 and 18, he becomes the first golfer to win at TPC Southwind in almost 30 years.
To win his tenth PGA TOUR title, Matsuyama had to stave off some of the greatest names in the sport. Finishing second were two-time major winner Xander Schauffele and reigning FedExCup champion Viktor Hovland, who is looking to turn around after a challenging season. Three strokes shy of his eighth victory of 2024, Scottie Scheffler finished alone in fourth place.
For Matsuyama, too, this 2024 has been a success. With his final-round 62 at The Genesis Invitational, he snapped a two-year winning streak and went on to win an Olympic bronze medal. He will now be rated third in the FedExCup when he arrives at the BMW Championship.
Sunday’s conclusion at TPC Southwind comes after a string of surprising outcomes. Up until he played Nos. 14 and 15 in 3-over par, Matsuyama had the lead the whole day. After shooting his tee shot into the water on hole 14, he scored bogey. He then doubled the next hole after three-putting from 50 feet.
Over the last few holes, Hovland took the most beating. When he reached the 17th fairway, he suddenly had a one-stroke lead. His approach entered the right bunker on No. 17 from the right woods. He was unable to gain momentum and returned to a draw with Matsuyama.
On the eighteenth hole, Hovland drove into the right rough, but his approach shot, which rolled ten feet behind the hole, struck a flag that was flush against the water on the left side of the green. Hovland appeared to have a chance to win with the putt, but Matsuyama pulled one ahead on hole 17 while he was still playing. Hovland had to make it only to tie now. When he played the last hole, Matsuyama had a one-shot lead because he had missed.
It was over when Matsuyama found the fairway and green on the eighteenth hole. It was only a bonus to make the birdie putt.
With water looming to the right at No. 14, a downhill par 3, TPC Southwind has seen more water balls than any other golf course on the PGA TOUR during the ShotLink era. The most recent player to make a deposit there was Matsuyama.
However, the next two holes are expected to be birdie holes. The fifteenth hole is a short par four where a little hazard that outpunches its weight is present due to a creek. After driving his tee shot into the right rough, Matsuyama attempted to escape it, but it took him two chips and three putts to hole out. Though he made bogeys on two of the most challenging holes on the course, he was unable to birdie the week’s easiest hole, the 16th par-5.
Matsuyama had just two pars the next nine holes on Sunday, after making nine pars and one birdie on his opening ten holes. In addition, he made two bogeys, a double, and 3 birdies.
Matsuyama said, “It has to be the two birdies at 17 and 18,” when asked which startled him more that he lost his lead or that he restored it with birdies on the final two holes.
Tom Kim made double-bogey on both earlier in the day, dropping him out of the top 50 FedExCup standings. Matsuyama made his 6-footer on the last green after holing a 26-footer on the 17th.
“At that moment, I sensed that today’s triumph was slipping away since holes 17 and 18 are challenging enough without having to birdie them. But I had the good fortune to birdie number 17. I instantly thought, This is going to be a really difficult tee shot at eighteen. I have to stay inside the fairway. I’m appreciative that I could complete it.”Matsuyama said.
When Robert Garrigus tripled the last hole and lost in a playoff game in 2010, it became the most well-known collapse in Memphis Heat history. He had to dive in front of the lake after snapping his tee shot into the water. He was forced to chip out over the lake and back into the fairway when his subsequent shot hooked into trees on the other side of the water.
There has been comparable enthusiasm over the last three years.
Lucas Glover had to make three putts in the last 6 holes last year—a 20-foot par putt, a 30-foot bogey putt (after going into the water on hole 14), and a 12-foot par putt to force a playoff against Patrick Cantlay, who rallied from a five-shot deficit with a 64-foot final round. In the playoffs, Cantlay’s tee shot struck the rough just outside the hazard line, bounced a few times, and eventually trickled into the water.
By the time Bryson DeChambeau and Harris English reached the back nine of TPC Southwind in 2021, they had already left the field. However, they shot 81 total on those holes together. At the island-green eleventh hole, DeChambeau hit his tee shot into the ocean and made a triple. English shot into the water on the other par 3 on the back 9, doubled the hole, and discovered the lake at 11. After that, he made another double bogey.
A year later, on the third hole of a playoff match against Sepp Straka, Will Zalatoris holed a 7-footer for par to win his first victory on the PGA TOUR. When they went back to the island eleventh for sudden death, both players played into the water, but Zalatoris emerged victorious by standing up and down from the drop spot.
Just as fascinating was the playoff hole that came before it.
Zalatoris was forced to chip out of the woods when his tee shot went off the cart road and came to rest a few feet from a boundary fence. Straka’s ball was on grass just inside the hazard line, but he barely cleared the water off the tee. He was given a penalty drop, but he hit it to seven feet. Zalatoris made both putts for improbable pars, and he hit his third shot to fifteen feet. At that point, they went back to the 11th hole to relive the mayhem.
Scheffler, who has won twice at TPC Southwind, likened the course to the old Tournament Players Club. The holes on the back nine are a dynamic mixture that provide both birdies and bogeys.
“It might be challenging to finish a course.”Scheffler said about TPC Southwind.
That was demonstrated by Matsuyama, until he didn’t.
