Matsuyama’s $4m Birthday Genesis Invitational Victory Windfall

2 years ago by Comments Off on Matsuyama’s $4m Birthday Genesis Invitational Victory Windfall

Japanese golfer Hideki Matsuyama will celebrated his up-coming 32nd birthday with a $4m Genesis Invitational victory purse thanks to his record-setting victory at Riviera.

Matsuyama stormed his way from six shots back at the start of the final round to shoot a closing 62 and win by three shots at 17-under.

The win is Matsuyama’s ninth on the PGA Tour and the 18th of his career while the former Masters champ also set a new record for PGA Tour wins by Asian-born after sharing eight wins apiece with South Korean K J Choi

It was Matsuyama’s first victory since his playoff succes at the 2022 Sony Open, after which Shigeki Maruyama sent him a text to remind him of a conversation they once had about becoming the winningest Asian-born PGA Tour winner.

“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.”

Matsuyama entered the week without a top-10 finish in 20 straight starts, the longest top-10 drought of his entire PGA Tour career.

This one looked unlikely at the start of a final round in which Patrick Cantlay had a two-shot lead and looked to be in total control of his game. But it was a struggle from the start for Cantlay, who couldn’t find fairways or greens or make many putts that mattered.

Cantlay played with his best friend on tour, Xander Schauffele, who struggled just as much. Luke List set the early pace. Will Zalatoris took the lead in the middle of the back nine. There was a five-way tie for the lead at one point on the back nine.

And then Matsuyama seized control with sheer brilliance. His approach to the tough 15th carried the bunker and rolled out to 8 inches. On the par-3 16th, he let the club dangle as he followed the flight, unsure where it would go until he heard the crowd cheer for a shot that rolled to within 6 inches.

He got up-and-down for a third straight birdie on the par-5 17th to stretch his lead to three shots, and by then, no one could catch him.

Matsuyama’s final act was a sharp-breaking 4-footer for par on the final hole, and he clinched his fist — a rare show of emotion by the Japanese star — when it dropped. His 62 broke, by one, the Riviera record for best closing round by a winner set by Doug Tewell in 1986.

It was also one shot shy of the course record of 61 set by Ted Tryba in 1999.

List (68) and Zalatoris (69) shared second on 14-under.



Comments are closed.