Before the final round of the Hero World Challenge, Tiger Woods offered Hideki Matsuyama a specific challenge: Shoot 10 under and you win this thing.
Matsuyama didn’t quite get there, but he came close: nine under par through 19 holes, a final round of 64 plus a birdie on the first playoff hole, enough to beat Alex Noren and beat a star-studded Hero field.
“Tiger is my idol,” Matsuyama said through an interpreter. “A few years ago we couldn’t take a picture in LA, but nine years ago we had our first picture with Tiger and I wanted
take a picture with Tiger [again]. That’s why I played well in Tiger’s event.”
Matsuyama was referring to his win at the 2024 Genesis Invitational, the other event Woods hosts, but Woods withdrew that week and was not part of the winners ceremony. Matsuyama also won the Hero in 2016; Woods finished 15th that week and stuck around to present the trophy.
The win was Matsuyama’s first of 2025, and while unofficial by PGA Tour standards, it’s the ideal way to enter the offseason after what was, by the Japanese star’s lofty standards, a mediocre season.
“It was a very tough season for me,” Matsuyama said. “[I talked to my] swing coach in Japan, every night and I could just play great.
The fireworks came early and often for Matsuyama in the final round; he made five birdies on the front nine and then holed from 116 yards for an eagle 2 on No. 10. Seven pars and a birdie the rest of the way were enough to put him in a play-off with Norwegians, who birdied 15, 16 and 18 to match him at 22 under par.
But when the two returned to 18 for the first sudden-death playoff hole, Matsuyama seized control of the tournament with a marked 9-iron from 166 yards to three feet. When Noren’s birdie putt slid around the edge, Matsuyama finished for birdie and the win.
A few more winners: from de Held:
-Norse’s consolation prize: his fourth top-three finish in his last nine starts plus a Masters berth.
“Especially against players like these, I am very proud of myself,” Noren said. “I know it might be low at the moment, but you have to go for it. Me and my caddy have been working really hard this week to get everything in shape.”
-This was Sepp Straka’s first stroke play start since the August Tour Championship, where he finished in last place shortly after the birth of his son Thomas. Straka looked much sharper this round, shooting 21 under and missing a play-off by just one shot.
“It was a very good year. It was a great year,” Straka said. “I felt like I had a lot of chances to win tournaments. I won two tournaments for the first time in a season. Yeah, I’m very happy where my game is going.”
-Scottie Scheffler finished T4, his 16th consecutive worldwide start where he finished T8 or better. He left frustrated at not beating the Hero, but satisfied with the state of his game.
“I would say this feels more like the beginning of the year to me than the end of the year,” Scheffler said. “You know, I got a pretty good break after the Ryder Cup. It’s been another long season, and because the season started a few weeks later this year without Maui, I also pushed it back a little bit further into this event, so I got a good break. It’s nice to come out here, kind of a bellwether of where I am right now. Like I said, very optimistic, done a lot of good things. I was definitely looking forward to some of the things I’ve been working on over the last few weeks, I saw some progress here, and the things I focused on in the offseason definitely saw some progress here as well.
-JJ Spaun capped a career-changing season with a T4, but his firsthand Tiger Woods experience during Saturday’s preliminary round left me grinning.
“Yeah, he watched me the whole warm-up yesterday, like on my bag,” Spaun said. “We were chatting. I was just so nervous because I’m not used to hitting in front of him. He definitely took away the first tee nerves for me out there on the course.”
“But it was cool, like I loved coming to this tournament growing up in LA and just loved being involved in everything Tiger does. When you’re around him, you’re in good company, you’re doing something right. It was such a fun week and an honor to be here.”
“>
#Hideki #Matsuyama #accepts #Tigers #challenge #wins #Tiger #event