Hideki Matsuyama secured his ninth PGA Tour win at The Genesis Invitational on Sunday by shooting a 9-under-par 62, the lowest final round by a winner at Riviera Country Club.
This win puts Matsuyama ahead of K.J. Choi for the most PGA Tour wins by an Asian-born golfer.
“Reaching nine wins was one of my big goals, passing K.J. Choi,” Matsuyama said through his agent-interpreter, Ken Hirai. “There were a lot of times where I felt, you know, I was never going to win again. I struggled reaching the top 10, but I’m really happy that I was able to win today.”
The 2021 Masters champion trailed 54-hole leader Patrick Cantlay by six shots going into the final round. He quickly made up that ground and was in a five-way tie for first place on the back nine with Will Zalatoris, Luke List, Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele at 14 under.
Matsuyama explained that going into the final round he did not think he could win.
“I was not feeling comfortable with my ball-striking, so I was kind of thinking, hey, I’m going to have a couple missed shots today, but maybe that kind of worked out,” he said.
Securing birdies on holes 15, 16 and 17 changed the narrative for Matsuyama.
On the 15th hole, he hit a 6-iron 189 yards that landed eight inches from the hole for a birdie.
“On 15, tee shot, second shot, perfect shot. So I had a great momentum right there,” Matsuyama said.
At the 16th, he landed his 160-yard tee shot just 6 inches from the cup, where he tapped in another birdie and gained a one-stroke lead. His birdie on the 17th brought his lead to two. A Zalatoris bogey brought Matsuyama’s lead to three as Matsuyama approached the final hole.
The new Genesis champion two-putted for par on the 18th to shoot 17 under for the tournament and 9 under on Sunday – just one stroke higher than Riviera’s course record of 61.
“Once I saw Hideki finishing at 17 under, it was a bit of a deflator, I’m sure for the rest of the field,” Xander Schauffele, who finished tied for fourth, said. “But hats off to him, it’s incredible. He’s done it a few times now, shooting lights out on Sunday.”
The tournament concluded with Zalatoris and List three strokes behind at 14 under, as well as Adam Hadwin, Cantlay and Schauffele at 13 under.
Cantlay led the field by five shots after the first two rounds but had his worst round on Sunday. He shot 72, only hitting four fairways and not getting a birdie until the 11th hole. Schauffele tied his worst score of the tournament with 70. In the pair’s large gallery was USC football coach Lincoln Riley.
This was Zalatoris’ fifth second-place finish in 69 career tournaments and his second consecutive top-five finish. Zalatoris was runner-up to Matsuyama, and Schauffele finished tied for third back at the 2021 Masters.
Zalatoris underwent back surgery last spring and had a hole-in-one during the second round of the tournament. He also shared that he unexpectedly lost a family member on Thursday and said that the whole tournament was for her.
“I’ve got a lot of silver in my house so getting another second place doesn’t really sit that well,” Zalatoris said, “but obviously coming back from what I had to go through physically, you know, we’re in the right direction.”
It was List’s first top-10 finish out of nine starts at The Genesis Invitational.
Matsuyama had not had a top-10 finish in 20 straight tournaments, the longest he had gone without one in his PGA career.
“To win in this tournament was one of my goals ever since I became pro,” Matsuyama said. “[With] Tiger being the host, that goal became a lot bigger.”