The Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama eagled the first play-off hole to complete an astonishing comeback as he claimed his first Sony Open title at the par 70 Waialae Country Club in Hawaii ahead of Russell Henley.
Matsuyama made four back-nine birdies to post a 63 to level matters with Russell who had shot a decent six-under 29 on the front nine to open a healthy five strokes lead.
In a tense finish, Matsuyama birdied the last hole for a seven-under par 63 to take advantage of Russell’s dropped shot on the back nine which condemned him to five under par 65, a result that was not good enough to stave off the marauding Japanese. It was the fourth time that Henley dropped a 54-hole lead to handover the title to the chasing pack.
It was a well-deserved win for Matsuyama who had earlier shot the day’s lowest round, a seven-under 63, in the third round to stay two shots behind Henley.
The victory earned him an eighth career PGA Tour title, the third in the last nine months, plus $1.35 million prize money from an overall purse of $7.5 million. He now moves to No. 10 in the World Ranking and top in the FedEx Cup points race.
Defending champion Kevin Na finished T20 after shooting -13 in the action was aired live exclusively on DStv in Sub-saharan Africa. Visit www.dstv.com to subscribe or upgrade, and join in on the excitement. And while you’re on the move, you can stream matches on the DStv App.The PGA action moves to The American Express event this week at La Quinta Country Club in California. DStv premium customers can watch in HD using the Explora decoder.
