PACIFIC PALISADES — Fueled by one of the greatest final rounds in the history of the Genesis Invitational, Hideki Matsuyama rallied from six shots back on Sunday to win the 2024 Genesis Invitational.
Matsuyama’s 9-under 62 tied a 62-year record for the lowest final-round shot by a tournament winner. Phil Rodgers shot a final round 62 to win the 1962 tournament.
The former Masters Champion is the first player from Japan to win at Riviera. It is Matsuyama’s ninth PGA Tour win, giving him the most PGA Tour wins by an Asian player, breaking a tie with K.J. Choi who won eight PGA tournaments during his career.
Will Zalatoris and Luke List finished in a tie for second at 14 under, three shots behind Matsuyama. Former UCLA standout Patrick Cantlay, who led over the first 54 holes, had a difficult final round, posting a 1-over 72 that left him in a three-way tie for fourth at 13 under with San Diego native Xander Schauffele and Adam Hadwin.
At one point early in the on the back nine five players were tied for the lead at 14 under before Matsuyama put his foot on the gas pedal, making three consecutive birdies on 15-16-17 to run away from the field and win going away.
Matsuyama’s second shot on the par-4 15th hole from 184 yards was executed to perfection, with ball ending up just inches from the cup. A few minutes later he hit a nearly identical shot on the par-3, 16th with his tee shot coming to rest a foot from the cup. Matsuyama locked up the win with his ninth birdie of the day on the par-5, 17th hole.
“To win in this tournament was one of my goals ever since I became pro,” Matsuyama 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 (Woods was at him battling the flu that forced him to withdraw during Friday’s round). Reaching nine wins was one of my big goals.”
While Matsuyama’s played well tee to green over the course of the tournament, his short game was the element of his game that most contributed to his victory. He finished third in the field in both strokes gained around the green and strokes gained putting. He hit 66 percent of the greens in regulation and finished first in scrambling, saving par 20 out of 24 times when off the green.
“Majority of the time when I rate my round, it’s usually my ball-striking (which is key),” Matsuyama said. “Today was an OK round (ball-striking wise), but I chipped and putted well today, so that’s something that gave me a good momentum. I think that really helped today.”
When the day started the focus was on Cantlay and a potential 18-hole battle with Schauffele. The two are close friends who play practice rounds together at almost every event they are in.
Both felt the final round pairing would be a comfortable pairing and allow them to play well but when both players failed to birdie the relatively easy par-5, first hole, it was proved to be a sign of struggles to come for both players.
Neither Cantlay nor Schauffele had a birdie on the front nine, and over the course of the round they combined for just five birdies and had six bogeys.
“I was hitting it OK to start, just couldn’t really make a putt,” Schauffele said. “Got on a little roll (at start of back nine) and got some momentum going but then hit some really bad drives at some really bad times. Once I saw Hideki finishing at 17 under, it was a bit of a deflater. But hats off to him, it’s incredible. He’s done it a few times now, shooting lights out on Sunday.”
Cantlay’s inability to pull away after dominating the tournament during the first two days gave hope to players like Matsuyama and Zalatoris who started the day trying to chase him down.
Matsuyama got his round off to a quick start with birdies on the first three holes, including a chip-in birdie on the second hole. While he appeared confident from the start of the round, the former Masters champion admitted before the round he didn’t 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 miss shots today, but maybe that kind of worked out (putting no pressure on himself).”
While Matsuyama started the final round six shots behind, Zalatoris faced a much smaller deficit being only two shots behind Cantlay. But having only recently returned from taking nine month off following back surgery, the former Georgia Tech standout wasn’t sure how his game with respond to the pressure of being in the hunt on the final day.
While he wasn’t able to produce the kind of fireworks that Matsuyama did, Zalatoris managed to make enough birdies to put him into lead after 14 holes. A bogey on 15 dropped him behind and he was unable to birdie any of the final three holes.
“It’s nice to be able to work on these (swing) changes when I’m in contention,” Zalatoris said. “You know, fully commit to what I’m doing. I hit great putts all day, I just under-read a bunch of putts. Was above the hole a bunch, had a couple that were really slow going back up the hill, so I just kept missing everything a little bit low. I don’t think the greens slowed down at all. Like I said, I’m headed in the right direction and week by week I’ve obviously been getting better, I’m getting more and more comfortable This is really good preparation for the majors coming up.”
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Like Zalatoris, Matsuyama has battled through injuries. He’s had both back and neck issues over the last few years that have impacted his game and left him wondering about his future, even though he is just 31.
After the eighth PGA Tour win at the 2023 Sony Open, Matsuyama injured his back. The prolonged pain left him wondering if he would be able to return to form and win again.
His back did eventually improve but he then started having problems with his beck that forced him to withdraw from event and kept him from practicing. But after listening to his doctors and taking some time off, he started seeing improvement at the start of this year.
“Since the start of this year, it’s been getting better, a lot better. It’s stress free when I’m sleeping, too, so I’ve had this feeling I can do something special this year. I’m really happy that I was able to win today. 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.”