Hideki Matsuyama has victoriously bookended 2025, following a season-opening win with another triumph in the Hero World Challenge, the last event of the campaign. Making his first appearance at the tournament in seven years, Matsuyama reigned victorious over Alex Noren in a playoff with a birdie on the first extra hole clinching his victory.
Matsuyama utilised a final-round 64 to post a 22-under total for the tournament. He matched when Noren rolled in a birdie putt from just outside 18 feet on the 72nd hole. The two were featured in the penultimate group, yet they were able to skirt past 54-hole leader Sepp Straka, who finished the week at 21 under, and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler — the two-time defending champion at this event — who finished at 20 under alongside J.J. Spaun in a tie for fourth.
First played in 2000, the Hero World Challenge now has six multiple-time winners. Matsuyama joins the list that includes Davis Love III, tournament host Tiger Woods, Graeme McDowell, Viktor Hovland and Scheffler. In the last nine playings of the event, Matsuyama, Scheffler and Hovland have combined for six victories.
Despite not having eyes on the leader at the onset of the day, Matsuyama made his move early and often from three strokes behind. The man from Japan rattled home three birdies in a four-hole stretch from Nos. 3-6, taking advantage of the two early par 5s at Albany Golf Club.
Straka did well to match the pace of his hottest pursuer as the Austrian reached 20 under for the tournament thanks to three birdies in his first six holes. He grabbed another birdie at the turn to post a front-nine 32 before making his way to the inward half of the golf course, where Matsuyama was already making an impression.
From 116 yards on the left side of the fairway of the par-4 10th, Matsuyama manoeuvred a wedge just long and right of the pin, where it then took a couple of bounces and spun back into the hole. From two behind into a share of the lead, Matsuyama never looked back as he began to build on his advantage.
A birdie on the long par-4 13th gave Matsuyama a two-stroke lead as it started to appear he would cruise into the winner’s circle. However, just as the tournament began to look in hand, Matsuyama saw Noren appear quickly in his rearview mirror.Â
Winning twice on the DP World Tour this fall, including the league’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, the Swede made his push late. As Matsuyama continued to pile up pars — he made par on his final five holes — Noren started to string birdies together.
He found the surface in two on the par-5 15th to make a stress-free birdie before knocking in a 19-foot effort on the difficult par-4 16th to give himself a heartbeat. Both Noren and Matsuyama narrowly missed chances on the par-3 17th, setting the stage for the finisher where Noren ultimately came through with one last circle on his scorecard to force a playoff.
“I aimed left edge,” Noren said. “It was quite nice, clear putt, actually. Some other putts, you don’t know exactly what it’s doing, but this one we were pretty clear on it.”
Back to the tee box, the two went as neither Straka nor Scheffler was able to join the fun. Scheffler made a heroic par save on the par-4 16th to stay within two strokes of the lead, but once he missed a 14-foot birdie opportunity on No. 17, his chances were all but dashed. Straka, on the other hand, made birdie on his final hole to eke closer to the final winning score but was upended by a poor bogey on the par-4 16th just two holes prior.
That meant the date was set for only two, and after both players found the short grass with a fairway metal, an approach contest materialised with Matusyama ultimately getting the better of Noren. Striking his second, twirling his club and barking at his ball to sit, Matsuyama stuffed his iron shot to near tap-in distance to give himself his second win of the year and his second win at Tiger’s tournament.