[PHOTO: Harry How]
A playoff seemed almost assured at the Genesis Invitational when five players were tied on the back nine at 14-under par. Then Hideki Matsuyama turned a nail-biter into a semi-rout, taking the title by three shots using a trio of three-birdie stretches to fire a final-round 62 that was one shot off the course record.
Matsuyama started his round with three straight birdies then made another three to start his second nine to get firmly in the mix, culminating with a 46-foot bomb with his Scotty Cameron by Titleist GSS prototype blade putter.
It was his final trifecta, however, that was his most impressive. At the par-4 15th he hit a 6-iron from 173 metres to eight inches then followed it up on the par-3 16th with an 8-iron tee shot from 146 metres that nearly won him and his caddie a car but came to rest six inches from cup.
Matsuyama’s irons are Srixon’s Z Forged II blades with True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400 shafts. For the week he ranked T-5 in greens in regulation.
At the par-5 17th after a roasted tee shot with his 9.5-degree Srixon ZX5 LS, he tagged a TaylorMade Qi10 3-wood from 251 metres that went just over the back of the green from where he got up and down for a final birdie.
That up and down was typical of the week for Matsuyama, who converted 20 of 24 scrambling chances to lead the field in scrambling with his Cleveland RTX 4 Forged prototype wedges.
The clubs Hideki Matsuyama had in the bag at the 2024 Genesis Invitational:
Ball: Srixon Z-Star XV
Driver: Srixon ZX5 LS Mk II (Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX), 9.5 degrees
3-wood: TaylorMade Qi10, 15 degrees
5-wood: Cobra King Radspeed Tour, 17.5 degrees
Irons (4-PW): Srixon Z Forged II
Wedges: Cleveland RTX4 Forged prototype (52, 56, 60 degrees)
Putter: Titleist Scotty Cameron by Titleist GSS
