Watch: Hideki Matsuyama nearly holes out for eagle while standing in lake at Bay Hill

One of the greatest golf shots you’ll ever see.

To say Hideki Matsuyama has been on a hot streak may be an understatement.

The winner of the Genesis Invitational three weeks ago, Matsuyama shot 5 under in the opening round at the 2024 Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill Club & Lodge in Orlando, Florida. He began his second round in afternoon on Friday, but he provided excitement quickly.

On the third hole, a dogleg left par 4 that curves around water, his tee shot ended up nearly going in the drink. After assessing what he could do, Matsuyama kept his shoes on, stepped into the water and then hit his second shot that was nearly level with his hips.

And he almost made it for eagle.

API: Photos

One of the greatest golf shots you’ll ever see, and he paid it off with the birdie.

Could Matsuyama win back-to-back starts? With shots like he pulled off Friday, it’s not impossible to think so.

Winner’s Bag: Hideki Matsuyama, 2024 Genesis Invitational

A complete list of the golf equipment Matsuyama used to earn his ninth PGA Tour win.

A complete list of the golf equipment Hideki Matsuyama used to win the PGA Tour’s 2024 Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club:

DRIVER: Srixon ZX5 LS Mk II (9.5 degrees), with Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX shaft

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Hideki Matsuyama’s driver” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/4PDoXo”]

FAIRWAY WOODS: TaylorMade Qi10 (15 degrees). with Graphite Design Tour AD DI 9 TX shaft, Cobra Radspeed Tour (17.5 degrees), with Graphite Design Tour AD DI 10 TX shaft

[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Hideki Matsuyama’s fairway wood” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/m53ZY1″]

IRONS: Srixon Z Forged II (4-PW), with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Hideki Matsuyama’s irons” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/rQ3OY3″]

WEDGES: Cleveland RTX4 Forged prototype (52, 56, 60 degrees), with  True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue X100 shafts[afflinkbutton text=”Shop Hideki Matsuyama’s wedges” link=”https://worldwidegolfshops.pxf.io/anm27M”]

PUTTER: Scotty Cameron Newport GSS Tour prototype

BALL: Srixon Z-Star XV

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Grips: Iomic X

Jordan Spieth congratulates Hideki Matsuyama on 2024 Genesis Invitational win with disqualification joke

“Great playing Hideki! Just make sure you double check that scorecard…”

Self-deprecating humor is often the best kind of humor.

Exhibit A: Jordan Spieth on Sunday.

The 13-time winner on the PGA Tour loves Riviera Country Club and the Genesis Invitational. It’s one of his favorite PGA Tour stops on the schedule. Spieth regrettably signed for an incorrect scorecard after the second round, which led to his disqualification from the event and cut his week short.

With some free time on his hands, Spieth was watching as Hideki Matsuyama shot a bogey-free 9-under 62 to win the Genesis at 17 under and had some helpful (and humorous) advice.

If you can’t laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at?

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Sizzling 62 at Riviera: Hideki Matsuyama smiling again after winning 2024 Genesis Invitational

The win is the ninth of Matsuyama’s PGA Tour career and first since the 2022 Sony Open in Hawaii.

Hideki Matsuyama is his own toughest critic.

The 31-year-old past Masters champion has developed a reputation for reacting as if he hated his shot more than hot sauce on ice cream only for the shot in question to be a thing of beauty.

Wearing his Sunday yellow golf shirt, even Matsuyama couldn’t resist cracking a smile as he struck irons on back-to-back holes on the back nine to within a foot to set up kick-in birdies and win the Genesis Invitational.

“It was 184 into the wind and I executed perfectly,” Matsuyama said through his agent, Ken Harai, who served as his interpreter, of his 6-iron at 15. “Happy with how I struck it.”

The Japanese star broke out of a five-way tie for the lead with three birdies in his final four holes to shoot bogey-free 9-under 62 at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California, the lowest final-round score in tournament history.

Matsuyama, who has battled a neck injury the last two years, won for the ninth time on the PGA Tour, breaking out of a tie with Korea’s K.J. Choi for the most wins by an Asian-born male golfer, signing for a 72-hole total of 17-under 267 to defeat Luke List and Will Zalatoris by three strokes.

“There were a lot of times where I felt, you know, I was never going to win again,” Matsuyama said.

He erased a six-shot overnight deficit by making three birdies to start both nines of his round. Matsuyama drained his longest putt of the tournament at the 12th hole, a 46-foot birdie, to reach 14 under and cut the deficit to one. Patrick Cantlay led after each of the first three days but faded on Sunday, shooting 72 and finished T-4. He played alongside Xander Schauffele (70), the best man at his wedding, whose birdie at the 10th hole was the first of the day for either of the competitors in the final group. Cantlay ended his string of nine straight pars at the 10th with a bogey to trail by two. He bounced back with a birdie at 11 but was upstaged by Schauffele, who holed a bunker shot for eagle. Both improved to 14 under and joined a five-way tie for the lead when List (68), who vaulted in front with six threes in his first seven holes, made bogey at 12. Zalatoris, who underwent a microdiscectomy on his back in April, reached 15 under with a birdie at 13 but it turned out to be his last of the day (69).

“I’ve got a lot of silver in my house so getting another second place doesn’t really sit that well, but obviously coming back from what I had to go through physically, you know, we’re in the right direction,” Zalatoris said. “Hats off to Hideki, that is just stellar playing.”

Matsuyama broke out of the pack with his third stretch of three birdies in a row. At 15, he flushed an iron from 189 yards to inside a foot for his seventh birdie of the day. At the par-3, 160-yard 16th hole, his tee shot looked like instant replay but it wasn’t – this time he stuffed his tee shot to 6 inches.

“I hit it maybe like five yards to the right of my target, but it became a good shot,” he explained. “All is good.”

Matsuyama, the critic, rated his ball striking for the rest of the round as more like he’d shot 75 than 62. He credited his putter and short game for his birdie barrage. Matsuyama chipped close at the par-5 17th for his final birdie of the day. His long-range birdie putt at the last to tie the course record burned the left edge of the cup.

Tiger Woods, who serves as tournament host at the Genesis Invitational, withdrew from the tournament after completing just six holes on Friday citing illness. He confirmed on Saturday via social media that he had the flu and missed the trophy presentation.

“A little disappointed that I wasn’t able to take a picture with Tiger today,” Matsuyama said.

He had been winless since the 2022 Sony Open in Hawaii, last recorded a top-10 finish nearly a year ago at the Players Championship in March, and had dropped out of the top 50 in the world a month ago. (He entered the week at No. 55.) Matsuyama’s injury dates to the 2022 Arnold Palmer Invitational and it caused him to withdraw most recently from the BMW Championship in August.

“Ever since that injury, I was worried every week that something bad might happen to my neck,” he said.

Matsuyama confirmed that his neck has been improving this year and he’s felt pain-free.

“I had this feeling of I can do something special maybe this year,” he said. “This week I played without any worries so that really helped too.”

 It helped him stand tallest on Sunday in the city of angels.

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Sleeper picks for the 2024 Genesis Invitational at Riviera

Will the year of the longshot continue in LA?

A stacked field is in Los Angeles for the PGA Tour’s third signature event of the year, the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club.

Although world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Max Homa and Justin Thomas will tee it up Thursday, all eyes will be on Tiger Woods.

Woods hasn’t played an official Tour event since the Masters last spring but did play a few times in December at the Hero World Challenge and PNC Championship.

The 15-time major winner spent Monday night announcing his new apparel line, Sun Day Red.

Although the best players in the world are set to do battle in LA, there are several sleepers to keep an eye on.

Genesis: Picks to win, odds | Best course history

10 of the best players at the WM Phoenix Open over the last 5 seasons

Is the winner this week on this list?

The world’s best players are in Arizona this week for the PGA Tour’s annual party in the desert, the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale.

World No. 1 and back-to-back defending champion Scottie Scheffler returns hoping to make it a three-peat, while a loaded field including Justin Thomas, Jordan Spieth, Max Homa and Wyndham Clark will try to stop him.

Thomas, thanks to his recent form and course history at TPC Scottsdale, is one of the popular picks to win this week at 10/1.

Listed below are 10 players with some of the best course history at the WM Phoenix Open over the last five seasons.

WM Phoenix Open: Picks to win, odds

9 star-studded PGA Tour pro and celebrity pairings at the 2024 AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am

These pairs are going to be fun to watch.

The second signature event of the PGA Tour’s 2024 season is here as a loaded field of 80 pros has descended upon Pebble Beach Golf Links and Spyglass Hill for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am on the Monterey Peninsula.

The amateurs in the field will play alongside their partners for the first two rounds — one at Pebble Beach, one at Spyglass Hill — before it’s just the pros at Pebble Beach over the weekend.

Among the world’s best in the field are Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay, Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa.

Pebble Pro-Am: Picks to win, odds | Sleepers

As for the amateurs, here are nine star-studded pairings for the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

These PGA Tour golfers are playing the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am for the first time

It doesn’t mean they’ve never played Pebble Beach Golf Links or the other golf courses in the rotation.

Scottie Scheffler? Nope. Collin Morikawa? Not him either. What about Hideki Matsuyama? Negative.

Believe it or not, those three are among the 10 golfers in the field of 80 at the second signature event of 2024, the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, who have never played the event. That doesn’t mean thoese golfers have never played Pebble Beach Golf Links or the other golf courses in the rotation, but they will be making their maiden voyage in this particular tournament.

The Pro-Am being elevated to a signature event in 2024 is certainly one factor. A year ago, the tournament had a $9 purse and a $1.62 million first-place prize. Those numbers are now $20 million and $3.6 million, certainly enough to spark the interest of those who never made their way to the Monterey Peninsula in January.

Here’s a closer look at the golfers making their first appearance in the AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am.

Longest active cut streak extends, Europeans invade leaderboard and more from Thursday at the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open

Get caught up on what you missed from the second round in San Diego.

SAN DIEGO — After a cloudy and soggy start to the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open the sun came out Thursday and the winds picked up along the southern California coast. The scores picked up, too.

The South Course at Torrey Pines was even more challenging during the second round of the PGA Tour’s annual stop in San Diego, but on the flip side, the often gettable North Course played a little bit easier.

From a European invasion at the top of the leaderboard to a first-ever ace and the extension of the longest active cut streak on Tour, here’s what you may have missed – including notables who missed the cut – from Thursday’s second round of the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open.

FARMERS: Friday third round tee times | Photos

Hideki Matsuyama makes first PGA Tour hole-in-one at 2024 Farmers Insurance Open

After he made the ace, Matsuyama threw his ball into the gallery to a lucky fan.

SAN DIEGO — Hideki Matsuyama has accomplished a lot in his golf career.

The 31-year-old from Japan reached No. 1 in the World Amateur Golf Ranking before he turned professional and has since gone on to win eight times on both the PGA Tour and Japan Golf Tour. In 2021 he became the first-ever Japanese player to win a men’s major at the Masters. He’s also represented the International Team at the Presidents Cup five times.

During Thursday’s second round of the 2024 Farmers Insurance Open, Matsuyama crossed a major feat off his PGA Tour to-do list: make a hole-in-one. Matsuyama aced the par-3 8th hole on the South Course Torrey Pines for his first-ever hole-in-one on the PGA Tour in his 247th start.

It’s the 26th hole-in-one in the event’s history – each has come at Torrey Pines – and first at No. 8 on the South Course since Richy Werenski in the final round in 2020.

Making his third start of the season this week, Matsuyama has made the cut in his first two events at The Sentry (58) and Sony Open in Hawaii (T-30).

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