Hideki Matsuyama (-22) has caused an upset by winning the Hero World Challenge, a tournament organised under the umbrella of the PGA Tour with Tiger Woods as host, but which does not award official points for the FedEx Cup. It’s not that the Japanese player wasn’t among the candidates to lift the trophy, because he was, but he managed to overcome a three-shot deficit in the final round against Sepp Straka (-21) and left none other than the world Number One, Scottie Scheffler (-20), in his wake.
Nine years ago, Hideki had already achieved victory in this same tournament. This time, it allows him to close the circle: he was the first winner of the season, conquering the Sentry of champions in January, and he has also been the last, as the only event remaining before the end of 2025 is the Grant Thornton Invitational played in pairs between circuit players and LPGA players. From the rising sun to the setting sun for the Japanese… with a playoff in between.
The advantage that Straka and Scheffler had at the start of the star match on Sunday quickly evaporated. Matsuyama began his round with five birdies on the front nine and made a decisive move with a tremendous eagle on the 10th, holing out from the fairway. However, the turning point came on the 11th hole when the Austrian and the American both made bogeys. Scottie’s was painful, after leaving his ball half-stuck in a hedge and barely recovering to a dirt area.
A Hideki hole-out to tie the lead! 👏
He hoops it at Hero from 116 yards.
📺 Golf Channel pic.twitter.com/9BzA22qP7u
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 7, 2025
The Number One completely disconnected with another bogey on the 12th, and his final surge, with an eagle and a birdie, only earned him fourth place. Sepp held on a bit longer but went to the 18th two shots behind, with no chance of even fighting for a playoff. Thus, the only one capable of challenging Matsuyama was his playing partner Alex Noren (-22), who with a great final birdie managed to match the Japanese player’s round of 64 to force the playoff, which was played on the 18th.
That’s where Hideki’s magic appeared. Both found the fairway from the tee (fairways quite worn, by the way, something unusual on this Albany course), but while the Swede left himself a long putt for birdie that he missed, the Japanese player nailed it to a metre from the flag. A comfortable birdie and a well-deserved victory to close with a smile a year that had started wonderfully but hadn’t left him with good feelings, with only one more top 10… until today.
