Hideki Matsuyama didn’t just win the Genesis Invitational on Sunday at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California. He put on a show like no one before him.
Matsuyama turned what had been a tight battle among a handful of players into a brilliant victory, shooting 9-under-par 62, the lowest final-round score in tournament history, as he marched to his ninth PGA Tour victory.
With five players briefly sharing the lead on the back nine, Matsuyama took command with two magnificent shots on 15 and 16 in a 15-minute span, leaving the rest of the field chasing him.
The biggest swing came at the difficult par-4 15th hole, where Matsuyama ripped a 184-yard approach shot to within 8 inches of the hole for a birdie.
“I hit it perfectly,” Matsuyama, of Japan, said through an interpreter.
Moments later, he nearly aced the par-3 16th, his tee shot coming to rest 9 inches from the hole. He tacked on another birdie with two putts at the par-5 17th. With the others struggling behind him, Matsuyama had his first win since the 2022 Sony Open in Hawaii.
Matsuyama finished at 17-under 267, three better than Will Zalatoris and Luke List. Matsuyama, who will turn 32 next Sunday, earned $4 million from the $20 million purse on the West Coast Swing finale.
There was little to suggest Matsuyama was primed for such a dramatic performance, having not finished inside the top 10 since a fifth-place result at the Players Championship last March.
Entering the week, he ranked 102nd on tour in strokes gained overall and 161st in strokes gained putting. Everything clicked at Riviera where he wound up third in strokes gained putting, picking up 4.29 strokes on the field.
Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, had fallen to No. 55 in the world ranking, but the victory pushed him back to 20th.
Bothered by back issues for the past year, Matsuyama said he felt comfortable last week at Riviera.
“Since that injury, I was worried every week,” Matsuyama said. “This week I had no issues. I played without any worries. That really helped.”
Among those left behind in the wake of his back-nine 30 was Patrick Cantlay, who led by five strokes after 36 holes and seemed in control of the tournament. Still two in front entering the final round, Cantlay fell flat as he chased his first win since the 2022 BMW Championship, shooting a final-round 72.
“Since that injury, I was worried every week. This week I had no issues. I played without any worries. That really helped.”
Hideki Matsuyama
The tournament was marred before the weekend with a couple of surprising absences. Tournament host Tiger Woods, in his season debut, withdrew after hitting his tee shot on the seventh hole of the second round, complaining of illness. He disclosed later that he had been diagnosed with the flu. Woods had made a high-profile launch of his Sun Day Red apparel line earlier in the week after breaking a 27-year run with Nike.
Jordan Spieth also made an early exit Friday after he signed his scorecard for a 73 that showed a par 3 on the fourth hole when he actually made a bogey 4, leading to the disqualification under USGA Rule 3.3b(3). He later owned up to the mistake on social media. As a freshman at Texas, Spieth helped the Longhorns win the 2012 NCAA title at Riviera.
It was the third straight poor closing round for Cantlay, who grew up in nearby Long Beach and played college golf at UCLA. He closed with 76 at the American Express and 75 at the Farmers Insurance Open.
Xander Schauffele, Cantlay’s close friend and Sunday playing competitor and another Southern Californian, looked poised to swoop in and steal the show when he started the back nine birdie-eagle, but a series of poor tee shots and three consecutive bogeys blunted his momentum.
Schauffele, Cantlay and Canada’s Adam Hadwin tied for fourth at 13-under 271.
It was a big week for Zalatoris, who finally looks to have fully recovered from back issues that sidelined him for significant portions of the past two years.
“Every week I've been getting better, so I knew I just got to keep doing what I'm doing,” said Zalatoris, who revealed after the final round a family member had passed away earlier in the week and that he used that as inspiration through the tournament.
“I've got a lot of silver in my house, so getting another second place doesn't really sit that well, but obviously coming back from what I had to go through physically, you know, we're in the right direction,” he said.
Ron Green Jr.