Did Hideki Matsuyama cheat en route to victory at The Genesis Invitational? Decoding full controversy
During the 17th hole of the final round of the Genesis Invitational 2024 on Sunday (February 18), Hideki Matsuyama got himself into a controversy that could have resulted in an alleged foul.
Hideki Matsuyama was 8-under for the round after 16 holes and was aggregating at 16-under with just a couple of holes to go. On the penultimate par-5 hole, he made his final birdie of the round. However, before hitting the third shot that landed on the green just three feet away from the hole, the Japanese golfer appeared to touch the ball with his club and move the ball from its original resting place.
Multiple clips surfaced on social media, and everyone started giving their verdict on the incident. This resulted in broadcaster Jim Nantz and golf analyst Mark Dusbabek explaining the situation. In the footage shared by CBS, the ball seemed to be oscillating and not rotating from its position. If the ball had rotated, Matsuyama would have been subjected to a stroke penalty under Rule 9.4b of the Rules of Golf.
"They're playing a game of 'gotcha'," said Nantz. "They think, with Matsuyama behind the 17th a moment ago and saying 'hey that ball moved! This isn't right!' Let's bring in, with some reasoning here, Duse (Dusbabek)."
Dusbabek explained that the ball didn't move and just shifted a bit without changing position.
"The ball has to move to a different position, up, down, to the side, it doesn't matter. It just didn't move its position," he explained.
"Reaching nine wins was one of my big goals," - said Hideki Matsuyama on becoming the winningest Asian player
The Genesis Invitational 2024 was Hideki Matsuyama's ninth win on the PGA Tour, as he overtook K.J. Choi to become the winningest player of Asian descent. This was also his first win in more than two years.
Speaking at the winner's interview on Sunday, Matsuyama reflected on his win.
"Reaching nine wins was one of my big goals, passing KJ Choi," he continued. "After my eighth win I've been struggling with my back injury. There were a lot of times where I felt, you know, 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."
Being six strokes back ahead of the final round, the nine-time winner on the PGA Tour said he was not expecting to win at Riviera Country Club.
"I was not feeling comfortable with my ball-striking," he added. "So I was kind of thinking, hey, I'm going to have a couple miss shots today, but 2 maybe that kind of worked out."
The 30-year-old Japanese golfer's final day score of 62 is the lowest final round ever scored at the Riviera Country Club. He took $4 million home for winning the third Signature event of the 2024 season. He also received 700 FedEx points. Will Zalatoris and Luke List received $1.8 million for the runner-up finish.