By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

When he woke up Sunday morning Hideki Matsuyama had no thoughts of leaving Pacific Palisades $4 million richer. He was tied for seventh place with two other players at the Genesis Invitational, six shots behind leader Patrick Cantlay, and his odds to win according to ESPN BET were 125-1. Nor did he feel confident in his swing, especially after hitting his opening tee shot into the right rough. However, he recovered to post a four at the par five first hole and proceeded to deliver one of the finest displays of golf ever seen at Riviera Country Club.

On three separate occasions, the 31-year-old from the island of Shikoku in Japan strung together three birdies in a row and his nine-under-par 62 produced a three-stroke victory and went into the record books as the lowest final-round score ever in a PGA Tour event at the historic course nicknamed “Hogan’s Alley” after legendary Ben Hogan, who won there three times in a span of 18 months in 1947 and 1948. The previous record was 63 by Doug Tewell in 1986.

“I was not feeling comfortable with my ball striking… but it worked out,” Matsuyama said through his interpreter after a 30 on the back nine. “The first tee shot was the worst shot I’ve hit all week.”

Matsuyama had a chance to match the course record of 61 set by Ted Tryba in the third round in 1999 but his lengthy birdie try rolled four feet past the hole at the famed 18th green. He cooly curved in his par putt to carry a three-stroke lead to the clubhouse at 17 under par. His four-day total of 267 was three off the Riviera record set by Lanny Wadkins in 1985. First played in 1926, the Genesis is the fourth-oldest event on the PGA Tour and Matsuyama’s brilliance equaled the final-round mark by Phil Rodgers at Rancho Park in 1962.

Five players were at 14 under on the back nine Sunday but Matsuyama continued to put up red numbers, making three birdies on his last four holes.

“My chipping and putting were good,” Matsuyama admitted after carding rounds of 69, 68, 68 and 62. The shot of the day was his approach at 15.

“I was happy how I struck that second shot on 15,” he added. “It was 184 yards into the wind and carried the bunker. Perfect shot. On 16 I hit it five yards right of my target, but fortunately it rolled to within six inches.”

The 2021 Masters champion recorded his ninth PGA Tour victory and first since winning the Sony Open in Hawaii in a playoff in 2022. He was clinical Sunday, hitting 14 of 18 greens in regulation, eight of 14 fairways and needed 23 putts. He climbed to third in the FedExCup standings behind Matthieu Pavon and Scottie Scheffler.

“To win here at Riviera was one of my goals since I became a pro and after Tiger Woods became the host that goal became a lot bigger,” Matsuyama said. “Owner [Noboru Watanabe] is Japanese and I’ve known him a long time. I’m disappointed I couldn’t take a picture with Tiger today.”

Woods withdrew with an illness after teeing off on No. 7 Friday. Making his season debut, the 15-time major champion who began his pro career at Riviera as a 16-year-old amateur in 1992, was driven off the course in a golf cart and issued a statement via social media the following day: “I would like to confirm that I had to withdraw due to illness, which we now know is influenza,” he said. “I am resting and feeling better.”

Matsuyama moved past South Korean K.J. Choi for most Tour wins by an Asian-born player. Jordan Spieth was disqualified after the second round for signing an incorrect card. Will Zalatoris and Luke List tied for second at -14 while Adam Hadwin, San Diego native Xander Schauffele and Long Beach native Cantlay ended in a three-way tie for fourth at -13.

Yonah Cohen, Noah Andrews and Logan Bailey all returning and the addition of sophomore Jack Kurlan. They all run well, take good routes to the ball and throw accurately, so we should be able to minimize extra bases and force the other team to get multiple hits to score runs.”

Add to the roster junior utility players Max Miller and Parsa Imankhan and senior pitcher Mason Binder and the Dolphins are at least two-deep at every position.

“We haven’t shown a ton of firepower with the bats, so we’ll need to take advantage of balls in dirt, draw walks and steal some bases to generate runs,” Voelkel said. “We came on strong at the end of fall and hopefully that carries over into the season, but every year is different.”

Despite having to pull out of the El Camino Real Tournament, Voelkel loaded the schedule with strong City opponents. In addition to the Poly and Tiger tournaments the Dolphins will make their annual trip to San Diego in late March for the Lions Tournament. The slate features nonleague games with Banning, Marshall, Bell, Kennedy, San Pedro, Granada Hills, Roosevelt, San Fernando, Legacy and Verdugo Hills.

Voelkel has piloted the Dolphins to 11 league titles and the Open Division playoffs every season since 2018, including a finals appearance in 2019. Palisades opens the season versus North Hollywood Friday night at George Robert Field.

All season long Erica Hamilton has shown a knack for scoring goals when they are needed most. The Palisades High senior forward did it one more time Saturday in the City Division I soccer quarterfinals against league rival Venice, netting the game-winner with seven minutes left, then playing keep away in the Gondos’ end to waste precious time as the Dolphins held on to win 4-3.

Hamilton scored all four goals, two in each half, to up her school record-setting season total to 33 in just 20 games played and propel second-seeded Palisades (20-1-2) into a semifinal matchup with No. 3 Cleveland on Wednesday night. The winner will take on No. 1 Granada Hills or No. 4 El Camino Real for the title Friday or Saturday at Valley College. Jacinda Hevesy-Rodriguez made six clutch saves versus Venice.

On Thursday, Palisades’ boys had a 1-0 lead in the last 30 seconds at Stadium by the Sea, but Anthony Villa scored on a header off a corner kick to force overtime, then tallied the game-winner three minutes into the extra session to lift No. 5 El Camino Real to a 2-1 quarterfinal win. Hudson Weinberger gave the fourth-seeded Dolphins (17-4-4) the lead when he angled a shot from the right side off the far post and in five minutes into the second half.

At lunchtime last Tuesday, 12 Palisades High senior athletes sat down at a table in the gym and, with friends, family and classmates watching, proudly signed letters of intent with their respective schools.

Baseball pitcher Mason Binder inked his commitment to Willamette University in Salem, Oregon while teammate John Iacono signed with Biola University in La Mirada.

Girls water polo captain Taylor Gair, who just led the Dolphins to the City Open Division title, signed with UC Davis along with beach volleyball player Emily Von Goetz.

Boys lacrosse scoring machine Axel Greve who committed early to Denver University, made it official with the Pioneers.

Girls soccer teammates Erica Hamilton (who broke the school’s single-season scoring record this winter) and Kyra Morris (who also runs track and cross country) both signed with Macalester College in St Paul, Minnesota and midfielder Sawyer Ramberg signed with Oberlin College in Ohio.

Rowers Madeline Terry and Massey Willis signed to compete in crew at Wellesley College in New York and the University of Portland, respectively, while five-time state AA champion gymnast Bronwyn Hoffman signed with UCLA.

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

The phrase “team effort” is overused in sports, yet it is the best way to describe the Palisades High girls water polo team’s victory over Birmingham last Thursday at Los Angeles Valley College.

Seeing the boys team capture the City’s inaugural Open Division title in the fall motivated the girls to do it too and they made it a Dolphins sweep with a 14-11 comeback win for their third section title.

Kylie Lupescu, Taylor Gair, Lilli Fox and Yasmine Santini all scored three times while Genesis Zuniga and Bailey Gair each added a goal for Palisades, which outscored the Patriots 9-3 in the last two quarters.

Goalie Triana Paris made key saves in the last seven minutes while the No. 2-seeded Dolphins (17-7) were mounting their comeback. Jocelyn Cruz tallied six goals for top-seeded Birmingham (15-13).

The teams traded goals throughout a frenzied first quarter in which there were 11 goals, five ties and three lead changes. Santini’s second goal made it 5-5 but Cruz scored her fourth goal with 11 seconds left to give Birmingham a 6-5 edge. She scored again midway through the second frame and Catalina Maldonado’s third goal made it 8-5 at halftime. Fox and Lupescu scored back-to-back goals to open the second half and Taylor Gair’s five-meter shot pulled the Dolphins even. Cruz scored to give the Patriots their last lead, but Bailey Gair’s goal leveled it 9-9 going to the fourth quarter.

Lupescu stuffed home a rebound 23 seconds into the final frame and scored again 39 ticks later. Taylor Gair’s second five-meter goal put Palisades up by three and Fox (who had nine goals in the semifinals versus Granada Hills) made it a four-goal margin with 2:36 left. Heather Sampson got Birmingham to within three, but Dylan Kuperberg made the defensive play of the night by deflecting Maldonado’s point-blank shot with 20 seconds remaining.

The teams had split the prior four City titles, with Palisades winning in 2019 and 2022; Birmingham in 2020 and 2023. The 2021 playoffs were canceled due to coronavirus.

This was the 10th finals berth in 12 seasons for the Dophins and when it was over they gleefully pushed coaches Kevin Basurto and Joe Vernaza into the pool for a celebratory swim. As an added bonus Palisades was awarded the No. 4 seed in the SoCal Regional Division III bracket and defeated No. 5 Classical Academy 9-5 in the first round Tuesday.

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

For Palisades High wrestler James Van Wagenen, anything short of a City title this winter would have been a failure. The Dolphins senior boldy predicted he would win the 126-pound weight class at the City Championships on February 10 and he backed up his words with a heroic effort in the finals against Birmingham’s Roman Arakelyan.

Having pinned his first three opponents in the first period, Van Wagenen had to wait for what felt like an eternity before facing off against the No. 2 seed. Two takedowns gave Van Wagenen a 4-0 lead but Arakelyan closed to within 7-6 with 15 seconds left in the third period. He tried to shoot, but Van Wagenen sidestepped and threw Arakelyan to the mat for two points on a near fall to claim a hardfought 9-6 victory.

Van Wagenen won the 106-pound division as a sophomore and lost the 113-pound final last year. Moving up two divisions has suited him well and he will try to place at this weekend’s state meet in Bakersfield.