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| AP Photo |
LOS ANGELES (AP) — The conversation began seven years ago when Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama won his fourth PGA Tour title to pass Shigeki Maruyama, his mentor. Maruyama told him the ultimate mark was nine tour wins, a record for most by an Asian-born player.
Matsuyama had little reason to believe that would come Sunday at Riviera.
Six shots behind to start the final round of the Genesis Invitational, Matsuyama delivered a record performance — 9-under 62, the lowest closing round by a winner at Riviera — to achieve the record that really mattered.
He now has nine PGA Tour wins, one better than K.J. Choi of South Korea.
“Reaching nine wins was one of my big goals, passing K.J. Choi,” Matsuyama said after his three-shot victory. “After my eighth win, I’ve been struggling with my back injury. There were a lot of times where I felt I was never going to win again. I struggled reaching to top 10, but I’m really happy that I was able to win today.”
This was an exquisite performance, second only to his 61 in the final round at Firestone in 2017 on a day no one else shot lower than 65.
Matsuyama was part of a five-way tie for the lead on the back nine until he hit a beautiful fade with a 6-iron from 187 yards into a breeze on the tough 15th hole that carried the bunker and rolled out to 8 inches for a tap-in birdie.
“Perfect shot,” he said.
