PACIFIC PALISADES, Calif. — Who saw this coming?
no one.
Not even Hideki Matsuyama.
“When you showed up on the course, did you think you could win today?” Matsuyama was asked after winning the Genesis Invitational Sunday at Riviera.
“The answer to that question is no,” Matsuyama said. “I wasn’t happy with the way I was hitting the ball, so I thought, ‘I’m going to make a few missed shots today,’ and maybe that’s why it worked out.”
In fact, it worked out pretty well for the 31-year-old from Japan, who won the 2021 Masters but hadn’t won a tournament in two years until Sunday.
Matsuyama was a latecomer, starting the final round six strokes off the lead.
Sunday was supposed to be all about Patrick Cantlay, but he took the lead after the first three rounds and was paired with close friend Xander Schauffele, who was trailing by two strokes.
But the friends, paired for the 21st time in a stroke play tournament on the PGA Tour, nothing went their way and they didn’t cannibalize each other’s rounds as everyone expected, leaving them on the leaderboard. So they left the door ajar for their junior challengers to enter. that day.
Matsuyama continued to perform well from the start, posting a 9-under 62 on Sunday to win by three strokes at 17 under.
Matsuyama, who is friends with Riviera’s owner Noboru Watanabe, said, “Winning this tournament has been one of my goals since I became a pro.” “After Tiger” [Woods] After becoming a host, that goal became even bigger. ”
Matsuyama had six birdies on the back nine and raced around the historic golf course with the field, finishing three strokes behind second-place Will Zalatoris and Luke List and ahead of Cantlay (73 in the final round). He beat Schauffele by four strokes. (70) and Adam Hadwin (65) all finished at 13 under.
Cantlay led the tournament with a five-stroke lead at the halfway point. He led two on Sunday. It was the fifth time in his career he had a 54-hole lead, and the third time he couldn’t make it up with a win.
This is Matsuyama’s ninth career victory and first since winning the Sony Open in 2022. His 62 was the best round of the day by three strokes and the lowest final round score by a Riviera winner since Doug Tewell’s 63 in 1986. Matsuyama was the first Japanese player to win the Masters, and the first to win the Riviera.
What made this victory especially special for him was the neck and back ailments that have plagued him.
“After my eighth win, I’ve been struggling with a back injury,” he said. “There were many times when I thought I couldn’t win.”
Matsuyama had been quietly hanging around all week, even though few people were paying attention to him. He started the opening round with a 2-under 69, shot 2-under 68 in the second and third rounds, and started the final round at 8-under, trailing Cantlay’s 14-under.
Matsuyama quickly birdied the first three holes and jumped into contention, while Cantlay and Schauffele appeared to be climbing up the standings without birdies early on.
While Matsuyama was quietly moving up the rankings, List appeared to be in control of the tournament, posting a 5-under through the first seven holes and taking a two-stroke lead with nine holes remaining. However, List’s form deteriorated on the back nine with bogeys on the 10th, 12th, and 15th holes.
Zalatoris, who did not play last season after returning from back fusion surgery in April 2023, came into action with birdies on Nos. 11 and 13 to improve to 15 under par. That’s when the birdie on No. 13 gave Zalatoris a shot. Lead short.
But Zalatoris stumbled with a fatal bogey on the 15th as Matsuyama put the pedal to the metal on the back nine. That, combined with Matsuyama’s birdie on No. 17, gave him a two-stroke cushion before Matsuyama had all three birdies at 17. -Shots the bulge in everything but the clinch.
Matsuyama birdied the 10th, 11th, and 12th holes, then consecutive birdies on the 15th, 16th, and 17th to win the tournament. Matsuyama hit his 189-yard approach shot on the par-4 to within eight inches for birdie. 15th hole.
“Number 15, second shot, perfect shot,” said Matsuyama. “So there was great momentum there.”
He then went one better on the par-3 16th, hitting his tee shot to within 6 inches for birdie. He followed with a birdie on the par-5 17th and headed to the 18th tee with a three-stroke lead.
Matsuyama’s fireworks made it easy to forget that just a few minutes earlier, Matsuyama, Zalatoris, List, Cantlay and Schauffele were tied for the lead at 14 under.
Both Zalatoris and List left the track satisfied with their performance, although they did not win.
“I played really well and I was happy to just put a little pressure on myself,” List said. “But Hideki, 62 years old today, it’s pretty hard to follow that.”
