Hideki Matsuyama ended 2025 with a victory following his opening victory at the season’s final event, the Hero World Challenge. Matsuyama, who was participating in the tournament for the first time in seven years, won a playoff against Alex Nolen and made a birdie on the first extra hole to seal the victory.
Matsuyama capitalized on his final round of 64 to post a tournament total of 22 under par. He matched it when Nolen sank a birdie putt from just 18 feet out on the 72nd hole. They were in the penultimate group, but were able to fend off 54-hole leader Sepp Straka, who finished the week at 21 under par, and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, the two-time defending champion at the tournament, to tie for fourth place with J.J. Spaun at 20 under par.
The Hero World Challenge, first held in 2000, currently has six multiple-time winners. Matsuyama joins a list that includes Davis Love III, tournament host Tiger Woods, Graeme McDowell, Viktor Hovland and Scheffler. In the last nine plays of the event, Matsuyama, Scheffler and Hovland have combined for six wins.
Despite not having his sights set on the lead at the start of the day, Matsuyama made his move early and often from three shots behind. The man from Japan took advantage of Albany Golf Club’s two early par 5s, making three birdies in four holes from No. 3 to No. 6.
Straka matched the pace of his hottest pursuer well and the Austrian reached 20 under par for the tournament thanks to three birdies in the first six holes. He made another birdie on the turn for a front-nine 32 before heading to the inside half of the golf course, where Matsuyama is already making an impression.
From 116 yards to the left of the fairway on the par-4 10th, Matsuyama steered his wedge just to the right of the pin, where it bounced several times and spun back into the hole. Matsuyama went from a two-point difference to sharing the lead, and never looked back as they began to build up an advantage.
He made a birdie on the long par-4 13th, giving Matsuyama a two-stroke lead, and it began to look like he would be heading into the winner’s circle. However, just as the tournament was beginning to unfold, Matsuyama saw Noren quickly appear in his rearview mirror.
The Swede, who won twice on the DP World Tour this fall, including the league’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, put his effort into the final stages. As Matsuyama continued to rack up pars (he made pars on his last five holes), Noren started racking up birdies.
He hit two on the par-5 15th for a stress-free birdie, then gave himself a boost with a 19-foot shot on the difficult par-4 16th. Nolen and Matsuyama narrowly missed their chance on the par-3 17th hole, but in the end, Nolen made a final push on the scorecard to win and advance to the playoffs.
“I went for the left edge,” Nolen said. “It was actually a really nice, clear putt. Some other putts, you don’t know exactly what it’s doing, but this one was very clear.”
Back at the tee box, neither Straka nor Scheffler could join in the fun, so they departed. Scheffler made a heroic par save on the par-4 16th to keep the lead within two strokes, but missed a 14-foot birdie chance on the 17th that all but ended his chances. Straka, on the other hand, got close to his final winning score with a birdie on the final hole, but was upset with a bogey on the par-4 16th hole two holes earlier.
In other words, the schedule was set for only two players, and after both players found short grass at the fairway metal, a battle for approach materialized, with Matsuyama ultimately winning the lead over Noren. Hitting his second shot, spinning his club and sitting barking at the ball, Matsuyama pushed his iron shot almost to tap-in distance for his second win of the year and Tiger’s second of the tournament.
