62! Matsuyama Triumphs At Riviera
The former Masters champion makes nine birdies to win the Genesis Invitational by three over Zalatoris and List. A wrap on the week plus notes on the 10th, top players, future events and CBS.
Hideki wanted a winner’s photo with Tiger. But with the host watching back in Florida after jetting home with “influenza,” Hideki Matsuyama will get a $4 million winner’s check for taking the Genesis Invitational and the satisfaction of posting 62 for one of the great final rounds in PGA Tour history. His name also joins two sexy lists: the honor roll of 60 Riviera/L.A. Glen Campbell/Nissan/Northern Trust/Genesis/Open/Invitational champions and to the mountaintop of best Asian golfers to play the PGA Tour.
If Riviera history is any indication, Matsuyama and a balky neck that has tried to derail his career since winning the Masters now heads to Augusta National with high hopes of claiming another green jacket. (Jon Rahm won the Masters after winning here last year).
The final lead was three but this one was close. For a while anyway. Not that anyone will remember how a five-way-tie was broken up by Will Zalatoris briefly on the back nine lead. But one hour and two stunning iron shots later, Matsuyama loosened the reins, stuck irons at 15 and 16, and blew past the Genesis field for his first win since the 2022 Sony Open.
Matsuyama’s nine-birdie, no-bogey 62 made history by tying the lowest final round score by a winner since they first started playing the event in 1926. Doug Tewell previously held the Riviera mark with a 63 in 1986, while Matsuyama joins the late Phil Rodgers, who posted a 62 in 1962 at Rancho Park.
In nine previous appearances at Riviera, the 31-year-old Matsuyama has shown signs of brilliance and futility, with three missed cuts to go with three top 10’s. Matsuyama previously posted a 64 at Riviera but in his last three starts had gone MC-T39-MC.
Starting Sunday six strokes back, Matsuyama had a decent warm up but no real hope of catching third round leader Patrick Cantlay (64-65-70-72-T4) before hitting his worst shot of the day off the first tee.
“I think a lot of times the morning practice doesn't really relate to the actual round, but I've been striking pretty good this morning,” he said after. “But on the first tee I hit probably the worst shot of this week. Yeah, can't really tell.”
Matsuyama opened with three birdies on each nine. Coming home he made pars at the 13th and 14th to set up his tournament-clinching birdies at the 15th, 16th and 17th. Matsuyama ended up birdieing the two most difficult holes for the day and week (the 12th and 15th).
With 189 to a pin perched on the right half of the 15th hole’s gull-winged green, Matsuyama’s 6-iron left an 8-incher for birdie.
“Perfect shot.”
Matsuyama then one-arm-finished his tee shot into the short 16th to within 6-inches for another birdie which, when combined with Zalatoris making bogey at the 15th, all but sealed the win as pursuers Luke List, Xander Schauffele and Cantlay faded.
Matsuyama reached the 17th in two and repeatedly mashed the rough behind a tricky wedge shot, prompting a second look by the rules staff to confirm the ball did not oscillate. The eventual up-and-down vaulted him to 17-under par and only a shot shy of Ted Tryba’s Riviera record 61. A decent go of his 18th hole birdie putt before a full amphitheater left him a sharp-breaking par putt of 3’9” inches. Matsuyama buried it for an epic round that the talent and luck-deprived PGA Tour needed as it heads to Florida.
“Reaching nine wins was one of my big goals [and] passing KJ Choi,” he said of becoming the winningest Asian player in PGA Tour history. “After my eighth win I've been struggling with my back injury. There were a lot of times where I felt I was never going to win again. I struggled reaching a top-10, but I'm really happy that I was able to win today.”
The co-second place finish by Zalatoris (66-70-65-69) with early round leader List (65-69-69-68) marks a huge moment in the two-time major championship runner-up’s comeback bid from major back surgery. Zalatoris made his PGA Tour debut at Riviera as a Collegiate Showcase winner and received a sponsor’s invite for the week.
The week was also an emotional one for different reasons. Zalatoris needed a few moments to collect himself after revealing he’d been playing while grieving the unexpected death of a relative. He did not disclose who had passed.
“I lost a family member on Thursday and she was -- so she was with me all week,” he said. “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.”
As for his effort to return to the form that had him quickly contending for major championships upon turning pro, Zalatoris confirmed he’s ahead of schedule.
“I'm definitely ahead of the curve in terms of the speed, where my game's at,” Zalatoris said. “[Now] it's just little things. And this is the beauty of this game is, you know, it's kind of nice when you get beat by somebody who shoots 62 on Sunday. 62 on Sunday is usually going to win a golf tournament or going to make you a lot of money. Hats off to Hideki, that is just stellar playing.”
And it would not have been a classic Matsuyama performance without at least one disappointed follow through.
“I hit it maybe five yards to the right of my target, but it became a good shot,” he said of the 16th hole. “All is good.”
Indeed it is for Japan’s greatest golfer.
Elsewhere…
David Puig, Jeunghun Wang and Denwit Boriboonsub qualified for The 152nd Open at Royal Troon through their finishes in the IRS Prima Malaysian Open. Puig posted back to back 62’s for a two-stroke win. The former Arizona State star signed with LIV in 2022 will be making his second major championship appearance after qualifying for last year’s U.S. Open. Wang earned his way to Troon via a final round 61 while Boriboonsub took the final qualifying place thanks to his higher position in the Official World Golf Ranking after tying for third with John Catlin. The next Open Qualifying Series event takes place at March 7-10’s Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard. One spot will be available.
Patty Tavatanakit captured the 2024 Aramco Saudi Ladies International by seven strokes after a final round 65 at resplendent Riyadh Golf Club.
10th Hole
History was made!
Just two players made the bold choice to lay up. Though one might have been by accident. We don’t know. They both missed the cut.
Granted, the “signature event” status meant the field was cut in half this year, therefore eliminating a few outliers who would dare use gobs of groomed fairway to clip a full sand wedge into the tiny 10th green.
So after a week of hearing (yet again) how the player teams say the data supports going for the green and hoping for the best, I have a (rhetorical) question: if only two people lay up, how is the data accurately highlighting whether it’s wise to drive the green or lay up? Is that a sample size?
Here’s another reason to question the data-as-gospel madness: the numbers do not account for the stress that comes with bomb-and-gouging around the 10th green. A CBS graphic Sunday highlighted how 86% of the second shots right of the green miss the green. On a 315-yard hole.
As with baseball analytics finding no way to account for the impact speedy baserunners have on a pitcher’s rhythm—and therefore discounting the importance of speed—Shotlink numbers cannot quantify everything. Particularly the value of a stress-free birdie or par when compared to a 3 or 4 that requires a lot of work on such a little hole.
Anyhoo…the carefully modified tenth green did successfully offer better hole locations for two rounds that would not have been usable in the recent past. Despite the greens firming and speeding up as the week progressed, the hole played easier in 2024.
Last year with a full 144-player field, the 10th played to a 3.913 scoring average with 2 eagles, 106 birdies and 7 double bogeys or more.
This year: 3.826, 2 eagles 79 birdies, 4 doubles.
Winner Matsuyama played the hole two-under-par for the week.
Runner-up List bogeyed it the last two days after making birdie the first two days.
Players
