Hideki Matsuyama
I’m pinch-hitting once again this week for Alex Hunter, and I’ll try to keep his strong results rolling. Last week, I went with veteran Justin Rose, who finished T37 in the middle of the pack. Hopefully, we can get a better finish out of this week’s pick: Hideki Matsuyama.
Matsuyama isn’t the official defending champion this week, even though he is the most recent winner at this course. In 2025, The Genesis Invitational had to be moved to Torrey Pines, where Matsuyama finished T13. In 2024, Matsyama triumphed at The Riviera Country Club with an impressive, bogey-free, 62 in the final round with nine birdies, including six in his closing nine holes.
His win was his fifth top 11 finish at The Riv, including top 10 finishes in 2019 and 2020.
Matsuyama returns to this course with some great form, as well. He finished last year with top 20 finishes at the BMW PGA Championship, the Baycurrent Classic, the Genesis Championship and the Dunlop Phoenix Tournament. He also won the unofficial PGA TOUR event at the Hero World Challenge in December.
He hasn’t slowed down at all in 2026. He started with a T13 to open the year in Hawaii, a T11 at the Farmers Insurance Open, a loss in the playoff at the WM Phoenix Open, and a very strong rebound last week at Pebble Beach. He was extremely consistent last week with a 67-67-67-69 in his four rounds on his way to a T8.
Matsuyama is second in the field in Strokes Gained: Approach and first in Strokes Gained: Around the Green over the last 20 rounds, and he also ranks in the top five in Total Strokes Gained and Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green. His whole game is in great form and he’s coming to a track that fits his game well.
On DraftKings Sportsbook, Hideki has the fourth-shortest odds to win The Genesis Invitational at +2150.
Past One and Done Tournament Results
The Sony Open: J.J. Spaun (T40)
The American Express: Si Woo Kim (T6)
The Farmers Insurance Open: Will Zalatoris (MC)
WM Phoenix Open: Maverick McNealy (T13)
AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: Justin Rose (T37)
