Chris Gotterup posted birdie on the first playoff hole to win the WM Phoenix Open after late mishaps by Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama opened the door for him Sunday at TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course in Arizona.

Gotterup, 26, notched his second victory of 2026 and the fourth of his young career. He shot a 7-under-par 64 and waited for a chance in a playoff.

Gotterup and Matsuyama ended up at 16-under 268 on a day when world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler made a strong move toward the top and created considerable buzz.

Gotterup, who also won last month’s season-opening Sony Open in Hawaii, posted birdies on five of the final six holes in the last round. The last of those came after he recovered from a wayward tee shot.

To end the fourth round, Matsuyama’s erratic driving finally cost him. His tee shot on the 18th hole ended up in a bunker and his quest to scramble for par failed when he was off the mark on a 24-foot putt. He took his lone bogey of the round.

Then Matsuyama’s tee shot on the playoff hole landed in the water alongside the fairway. Gotterup played it steady and recorded another birdie to seal the deal.

Two of Matsuyama’s 11 victories on the PGA Tour have come in this tournament. He also won in 2016 and 2017, but he couldn’t finish the quest this time.

Matsuyama carried a one-shot lead on countryman Ryo Hisatsune into the final round.

Matsuyama was trying to win a fourth PGA Tour event in a 24-month period. This marked the sixth time that Matsuyama has been the outright leader through 54 holes on the PGA Tour, and he had won each of the previous five times.

Scheffler, who began his season two weeks earlier by winning The American Express, became the biggest story of the day for much of the round. He was within one shot of the lead through 15 holes, though he was playing several groups ahead of the last threesome. He finished with 64.

Michael Thorbjornsen (67), Akshay Bhatia (67), South Korea’s Si Woo Kim (68) and Denmark’s Nicolai Hojgaard (68) shared third place with Scheffler at 15 under.

Scheffler played the front side in 3 under and then strung together three more birdies on Nos. 13-15. That included sinking a shot from the fringe about 72 feet away on the par-4 14th. He also birdied No. 17.

With Scheffler’s round complete, Thorbjornsen briefly catapulted into the lead with an 11-foot eagle putt on No. 15. He gave one of those strokes back with a bogey on the next hole after launching his tee shot beyond the green on the par-3 hole.

Thorbjornsen, a 24-year-old seeking his first PGA Tour triumph, settled for his seventh finish in the top five. Hojgaard is also 24 and without a tour victory.

China’s Zecheng Dou had the day’s best round with 63, moving him to 11 under and tied for 13th.

–Field Level Media

Monday’s Atlantic Coast Conference battle between No. 24 Louisville and visiting North Carolina State features a pair of teams each averaging 85.7 points per game.

Both the Wolfpack and Cardinals are gaining ground in the ACC race and firming up NCAA Tournament resumes. NC State has won six in a row while Louisville has won its last three.

The Cardinals (17-6, 7-4 ACC) are still making up ground after a 4-4 stretch when point guard Mikel Brown Jr. was sidelined with a back injury. But Brown has been back for five games and Louisville seems to be settling in offensively.

Louisville needed a late defensive stand to hold off Wake Forest 88-80 on Saturday. Louisville led 43-34 at halftime, but saw Wake Forest rally to tie the game, doing so for the final time at 80 on a pair of Sebastian Akins free throws with 4:44 to play. The Cardinals forced Wake into 0-for-11 shooting from there to claim the win.

“Our guys had the wherewithal to flip the switch and get stops and rebounds down the stretch,” said Louisville coach Pat Kelsey. “I felt like it was a phenomenal team win.”

Louisville placed six players in double figures in scoring. Sananda Fru tallied 17 points on 7-for-7 shooting from the field and also grabbed six rebounds. J’Vonne Hadley added 15 points on 5-for-7 shooting and added five boards. Reserve Khani Rooths notched 13 points in 18 minutes off the bench and was joined in double figures by Brown (12 points, eight assists), Ryan Conwell (11 points) and Isaac McKneely (11 points).

The Cardinals are three games behind Duke and Clemson in the ACC race but are No. 17 in the NCAA’s NET rankings and look all but certain for the NCAA Tournament.

NC State (18-6, 9-2) is just a game off the lead in the ACC race. All five of coach Will Wade’s usual starters are averaging double-figure scoring totals, and at 40.2%, the Wolfpack are one of the nation’s top 3-point shooting teams (currently best in the ACC and seventh nationally).

NC State is coming off an 82-73 win over Virginia Tech. The Wolfpack jumped out to a 20-7 lead, but saw Virginia Tech pull within 54-51 with 11:20 to play.

An immediate 10-1 run allowed the Wolfpack to cruise home with the win. Matching 3-pointers from Paul McNeil Jr. and Tre Holloman keyed the run.

“They limited our (3-point) attempts,” Wade said after the game. “But our best 3-point offense was in transition. It got us going in transition.”

The Wolfpack shot 9-for-21 (42.9%) from long range, with McNeil and Holloman combining for seven of their 3-point buckets.

McNeil tied Quadir Copeland as the high scorer with 21 points. Copeland made 7 of 11 shots and added 10 assists.

Hollman added 16 points, and Ven-Allen Lubin notched 11 points and seven rebounds.

NC State is 27th in the NET rankings, largely due to a Quad 2 loss and a Quad 3 loss. But with eight wins in the last nine games, the Wolfpack’s NCAA Tournament situation is increasingly solidifying.

–Field Level Media

Now carrying a smidge of success after a recent drought, the Milwaukee Bucks travel to Orlando to take on the Magic Monday night for the first of two games between the teams in three days.

Milwaukee enters with star Giannis Antetokounmpo still ailing, but riding a three-game win streak, its longest of the season.

“I made that comment 100 years ago: winning is like a deodorant. It covers a lot of things that stink at times,” Bucks coach Doc Rivers said after Friday night’s win over Indiana. “When you start winning games, the ball goes in, you feel better, you want to come to practice. When you lose games, you dread watching film, everything is a big deal, the shots get tighter. Now you can see our guys are playing loose, they’re playing free. It’s nice.”

“It feels good,” Bucks guard Kevin Porter Jr. added. “We haven’t had this feeling and been in this situation as much this year as we wanted. We’re going to live in the moment and try to make it an everlasting one and continue to get these wins and stack them up.”

The Bucks are still on the outside looking in for a play-in spot and have been without Antetokounmpo, who has not played since Jan. 23 with a calf injury but was not traded ahead of Thursday’s deadline. Milwaukee is 6-14 this season without the “Greek Freak.”

“He’s gonna play when he’s healthy, we just gotta make sure he’s healthy. He’s getting close,” Rivers said on Friday. “Like, he’s working out, he looks good. So, I would say hopefully sooner than later.”

Orlando, currently nestled at seventh in the Eastern Conference, is riding a modest two-game win streak and has been without leading scorer Franz Wagner (22.2 points per game) with an ankle injury since Jan. 18.

He was upgraded to questionable for Monday’s game and could return after missing the last nine games.

Paolo Banchero has picked up the scoring slack, as has Desmond Bane, who has averaged 21.8 points over his last five games and has made at least one three in his last 12.

Orlando trailed the Jazz by 17 points on Saturday night but rallied for a 120-117 win. Magic coach Jamahl Mosley pointed out plenty of mistakes made by his team afterwards, but said his team showed courage.

“You have to battle through adversity, I don’t care who you play, it’s a game of runs and how you handle that in a game,” Mosley said. “Down 17, you just go for those mini goals. We said let’s get it down to 10 (by the end of the third quarter) and we got it down to seven. Those are the small things guys can grab a hold of and not try to go for the home run but win the small battles.”

Monday will be the first meeting of Magic and Bucks this season. Orlando guard Jalen Suggs had a career-high 32 points against the Bucks when they met in December 2024. Milwaukee won three of four meetings last season.

–Field Level Media