At the Hero World Challenge at Albany Golf Club in the Bahamas, Hideki Matsuyama triumphed over a star-studded, 20-man field befitting of tournament host Tiger Woods. After going low in the final round, the 33-year-old Japanese pro defeated Sweden’s Alex Norén with a birdie on the first playoff hole.
“I was in really good shape coming in this week, but earlier Tiger told me to shoot 10-under today,” Matsuyama said through an interpreter after his 8-under 64. “I didn’t shoot 10-under, but I’m very happy to win this week.”
Matsuyama shot 22-under (68-66-68-64) before winning the playoff with a birdie after an approach shot to within 3 feet. He beat a stacked field. Half were in the top 20 of the Official World Golf Ranking. There were 11 of this year’s PGA Tour winners and eight of this year’s Ryder Cuppers, as well as every major champion besides Rory McIlroy.
Matsuyama finished the 2025 season as he started it, having won the season-opening Sentry at Kapalua in January.
“I was in really good shape coming in this week, but earlier Tiger told me to shoot 10-under today.”
hideki matsuyama
Matsuyama, who previously won the Hero World Challenge in 2016, began the final round three strokes behind Austria’s Sepp Straka, who birdied two of his first five holes Sunday to move to 19-under. But Matsuyama came roaring back. He played the front nine in 5-under par before holing out from 116 yards for eagle on No. 10 to tie Straka for the lead at 21-under.
Straka’s bogey on the par-5 11th dropped him to 20-under and gave Matsuyama the lead. When Matsuyama birdied the 13th, his lead expanded to two.
Meanwhile, Norén was making a charge. Playing with Matsuyama, the 43-year-old Swede birdied 16 to move to 7-under on the day, 21-under for the tournament, and one behind Matsuyama. A Straka bogey on the 16th hole dropped him two back, creating a two-man race with one hole to play.
Facing a must-make 18-footer for birdie at the last, Norén drained the putt to post a 64 and force a playoff. But on the first extra hole, Matsuyama hit his approach shot tight, and his ensuing birdie putt won it.
“The playoff second shot was a perfect distance for me,” Matsuyama said. “The earlier second shot I missed it right so I was going right at it and able to hit a great shot.”
Five players – two-time defending champion Scottie Scheffler, J.J. Spaun, Akshay Bhatia, Straka and Wyndham Clark – shared the first-round lead at 66. After the second round, Clark, Spaun and Bhatia were joined at the top by Matsuyama and Carson Young at 10-under.
After Young shot 2-under on the front nine, he tied the Albany back-nine record with an electric 6-under 30. This included a streak of birdie, eagle, birdie, birdie on Nos. 14-17 before Young’s only bogey of the day on 18.
Scheffler briefly took the solo lead at 11-under after going birdie-eagle on Nos. 14 and 15. However, a wayward tee shot on No. 16 forced a drop and led to an uncharacteristic double bogey for the world No. 1, who entered the third round a shot back.
Straka separated himself from the pack on Saturday, shooting an 8-under 64 to move to 17-under. He hit every fairway and made no bogeys, two eagles and four birdies.
After a 65, Scheffler finished the third round one behind Straka at 16-under. With a closing 68, Straka finished third, while Scheffler (68) wound up T4 with Spaun (65).
The 2026 PGA Tour season tees off on January 15 at Waialae Country Club for the Sony Open in Hawaii.
Everett Munez