Hideki Matsuyama (-17) completed one of the best rounds of golf of all time this Sunday at Riviera Country Club to win the Genesis Invitational. Perhaps it does not have the significance of others due to the stage, impossible to compete with the Majors, or the magic of those that manage to break the mythical (increasingly less) barrier of 60 strokes, but the 62 that the Japanese has placed today on the course of Los Angeles is pure madness.
Matsuyama has torn Riviera apart. His round has surpassed the second best by three strokes and the third by five. They didn’t even see him when he was passing everyone on the right. His 62-stroke card is the best in history in a final round of the PGA Tour on the legendary course where the stars of Hollywood have been combating stress for almost a century.
The battle to win the Genesis was reduced to a Hideki against everyone and the Japanese won by a landslide. Obviously, he did everything well, but mainly he offered a show on the greens. He only needed 23 putts in 18 holes and took more than eight strokes from the tournament average in the strokes gained putting statistic. He made everything he had to make, including a putt of more than twelve meters on hole 12, but surely the highlight of his round was that we have seen his playstation irons again.
Matsuyama’s ability to leave balls given is astonishing. There are not many players who match his precision when he is really fine. He can complete a round of golf with three, four and even five very real options to make an eagle from the street. Today, in fact, he was about to achieve it on holes 15 and 16, two monsters where the 500 best players in the world would sign to make par.
While Matsuyama was having his own party, the rest saw how the train was moving away. They all gave up one by one. Patrick Cantlay, leader on Saturday, never felt good at any time and played over par (72), Xander Schauffele left almost all his options at the beginning and when he tried to return it was already late (70), Luke List did the opposite to Schauffele, started well and decided to go up and got vertigo (68) and Will Zalatoris was the one who tried the most until the end, but a bogey on 15, where almost everyone made a bogey and Matsuyama left it given, took him out of the equation.
Matsuyama started Sunday six strokes from the lead and ended up winning by three. Yes, it’s playing something else.
It is Hideki’s ninth victory on the PGA Tour and the first since the Sony Open in 2022. More than 700 days have passed, too long for a player of his quality and the reflection that he tends to fall asleep on his laurels after achieving great victories like his triumph in Augusta in 2021. We will see if it happens to him again this time.
NAILS.
@HidekiOfficial_ with a tap-in birdie for the co-lead @TheGenesisInv. pic.twitter.com/Coku9Gne30— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) February 18, 2024
Speaking of the Masters, Matsuyama enters with this victory in the exclusive club of those who have managed to win in Augusta and in Riviera. Only 14 players have done it and the list is simply amazing. Jon Rahm was the last to enter before the Japanese. In addition, there are Fred Couples, Ben Hogan, Phil Mickelson, Dustin Johnson, Nick Faldo, Byron Nelson, Adam Scott, Sam Snead, Craig Stadler, Bubba Watson, Tom Watson and Mike Weir. Almost nothing.
