Hideki Matsuyama caught fire in the final round to shoot a stunning nine-under 62, snatching victory at the Genesis Invitational and securing his ninth PGA Tour title and first since the Sony Open in Hawaii more than two years ago.
Matsuyama went bogey-free, carding nine birdies at Riviera Country Club to storm to the top of the leaderboard and post 17-under, overturning a six-shot deficit to leader Patrick Cantlay who was looking to go wire-to-wire in his home State.
The former Masters champion reeled off three birdies in a row to start the day, making the turn in just 32 strokes and started the back nine in identical fashion to move into a five-way tie for the lead after both Cantlay and playing partner Xander Schauffele had failed to make any real headway on the front side.
But the Japanese superstar wasn’t stopping there as he embarked on his third three-birdie run of the day, starting with his approach to the 15th which he stuffed to eight inches before sticking his tee shot on the next even closer and then completed a neat up-and-down from just over the green on the par-5 17th to open up a four-stroke advantage and effectively seal victory, even though there were still several groups yet to complete their final rounds.
“I wasn’t striking the ball really well but my chipping and putting was working a lot this week, especially the second shot on 15 was one of the best I had. That really helped,” Matsuyama said through an interpreter.
“I think it’s really important for me to keep this momentum, especially going to Augusta, so hopefully I can keep that.”
The biggest disappointment on an otherwise incredible day for the Japanese superstar was that tournament host Tiger Woods who’d been forced to return home after contracting influenza wasn’t able to join him on the 18th green for the award ceremony of a tournament that he’d been dreaming about winning for years.
“Yeah, you know, to win in this tournament was one of my goals ever since I became pro,” he said. “After Tiger being the host, that goal became a lot more bigger. A little disappointed that I wasn’t able to take a picture with Tiger today.
“Yeah, Riviera is actually a very special place for me. I know the owner, he’s Japanese, I’ve known him for a very long time. So winning at Riviera was something very special for me.”
For a considerable portion of the round, it looked like Luke List would be the man to take glory, racing out in 30 to hit the front and open a two shot lead, but Riviera’s tricky closing stretch bit back and he shot a back-nine 38 to finish on 14-under, tied with Will Zalatoris.
Playing on a sponsor’s exemption, Zalatoris sent a timely reminder to the golfing world of exactly why he is one of the premier ball strikers and big game players on the tour, but his lack of recent experience of being in contention shone through over the closing stretch as he laboured while Matsuyama pulled clear.
It was a particularly remarkable performance from Zalatoris because, as he revealed after the final round, he’d suffered a family bereavement on Thursday but somehow managed to regroup and tee it up on Friday, making a memorable hole-in-one on the 14th on day two.
“Yeah, pretty excited obviously where my game’s headed,” he said, before emotion took over. “I didn’t say anything all week, but I — sorry. I lost a family member on Thursday and she was — so she was with me all week. You know, was pretty special on Friday to make the hole-in-one after — sorry. Pretty special to make the hole-in-one on Friday after I found out on Thursday. She was with me all week.”
Cantlay’s poor final round was the biggest surprise as the man dubbed ‘Patty Ice’ by American fans due to his calm nerve and killer instinct was never really on song, eventually shooting a one-over 72 thanks to a holed 50-footer on the 72nd hole.
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