Hideki Matsuyama Wins Genesis Invitational With Sunday 62, Then His Caddie Steals The Show Once Again

Michael Owens. Getty Images.

Hideki Matsuyama played about as good a round of golf as humanly possible on Sunday afternoon, firing a bogey-free nine-under 62 at Riviera to erase a six-shot deficit and win the Genesis Invitational by three shots over Will Zalatoris and Luke List. It's his ninth PGA tour victory, a significant number because it sees him move past K.J. Choi to become the all-time winningest player from Asia on the PGA Tour. 

"Reaching nine wins was one of my big goals, passing KJ Choi," Matsuyama said through an interpreter. "After my eighth win I've been struggling with my (neck) injury. There were a lot of times where I felt, you know, I was never going to win again. I struggled reaching to top-10, but I'm really happy that I was able to win today.

He emerged from a crowded leaderboard featuring big-time names. At one point there were five players knotted at -14: Matsuyama, Zalatoris, List and the final pairing of Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele. Those two, who are extremely close friends, are both from Southern California and seemed destined to duke it out all afternoon. Both players came out of the blocks extremely slow—neither made a birdie on the front nine before Schauffle catapulted himself back into the mix with a birdie on 10 and an eagle hole-out from the bunker on the par-5 1th. But Schauffele followed that up with three straight bogeys just as Matsuyama put distance between himself and everyone else by hitting his approach shots on 15 and 16 to a combined 14 inches.

He hit two perfect shots on the par-5 17th, finding the center of the fairway and pumping a 3-wood just over the green. There was some online chatter after a close-up showed his ball oscillating in the thatchy Kikuyu rough just long of the green but the issue was quickly put to rest by a rules official who noted that the ball didn't change from its original position. He handled a deliate chip beautifully for his ninth and final birdie of the day and knocked in a testy four-footer for par at the last to seal the W.

And yet, just as was the case after his Masters victory, it's his caddie Shota Hayafuji that's stealing the show. 

You'll recall the Bow Seen Round The World back in 2021 after Matsuyama became the first man from Japan to win a major championship. Hayafuji placed the flag back into the hole on 18 delicately and then bowed toward the fairway, a sign of deep gratitude for a once-in-a-lifetime experience. The Bow took a life of its own afterwards and became the signature image from Matsuyama's history-making win. 

This image's a little less wholesome but equally iconic. Claire Rogers of Golf.com gets the credit for snapping this moment showing Hayafuji enjoying his vape while sitting on the practice green looking back on 18. His man had just posted 62, he'd walked up that massive hill behind 18 for the last time, the guys still playing had no chance to catch him—and, assuming the standard 10%-of-a-win agreement caddies have with players, he just became $400,000 richer. Not a bad time to buzz just a little. 

It's Matsuyama's first win since the 2022 Sony Open and his first top-10 finish on the PGA Tour since the Players Championship, nearly a full year ago. He'd dropped outside the top 50 in the official world golf ranking but moves all the way back into the top 20 with the victory. 

Zalatoris posted his best finish since returning from back surgery, a T2 made even more emotional by the unexpected passing of a family member on Thursday. 

Matsuyama was characteristically modest after the round—he said e judges the quality of his rounds by hill ball striking and that this one was "just okay" but highlighted how well he chipped and putted all day. The only downside? Tournament host Tiger Woods wasn't on-site to take photos with the champ. He headed back to Florida after withdrawing midway through his round on Friday with a flu. 

"A little disappointed I wasn't able to take a picture with Tiger today." A $4 million paycheck will surely ease the pain.