Hideki Matsuyama did manage to bookend his 2025 season with victories, with the Japanese star winning the Hero World Challenge following a playoff with Alex Noren.
Of course, it was Hideki Matsuyama who lifted the first trophy of the year. The 2021 Masters champion broke the PGA Tour record for the lowest score on his way to winning The Sentry.
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His victory at Albany will give him a boost heading into 2026, particularly with Scottie Scheffler among those who found themselves in the chasing pack.
But it is fair to say that Matsuyama’s two wins do not tell the full story of his year by any means.
The area of the game preventing Hideki Matsuyama from being a top five player in the world
Matsuyama’s only top 10 in a PGA Tour event this season came at Kapalua. Meanwhile, his best finish in a major was tied for 16th. He has one top 10 across the last three seasons in the majors.
And it seems that there is one aspect of the game which continually holds Matsuyama back.
Speaking on 5 Clubs, Gary Williams claimed that the 33-year-old is nowhere near reliable enough on the greens to realise his full potential.
“Very streaky, but when the streak is right and he is in flow, he can be as good as anybody. I would say that over the last decade, Hideki Matsuyama’s been one of the six to eight to 10 best players in the world, as evidenced by his resume. 11 wins on the PGA Tour, eight wins on the Japan Tour,” he said.
“If you start looking at the wins specifically, and yeah, I think there’s different weight to wins, winning is the most important thing wherever it might be, but this guy has won two World Golf Championships, he’s won the Memorial, he’s won the Genesis at Riviera. He won a playoff event, he’s won The Sentry.
“He will be a lead pipe, stone cold, mortal lock for the World Golf Hall of Fame. You could say a major and 11 wins, he’s an international player. If you look at some players who were born and raised outside the United States, it’s the World Golf Hall of Fame.
“And the reason is Hideki Matsuyama is not more consistent, and maybe hasn’t won more – and 11 is a load, that’s a lot in this generation, not to mention where he’s won. He plays in all the best events and he also has that Masters win, and the gravity of that win is significant as an Asian born player, in 2021. And he’s got a second, a fourth, and a sixth in the other three major championships. It is kind of peculiar when you do look at this year, the win he had at The Sentry was his only top 10 of the year.
“And that is why if you say he’s a top five player, any given week he is, but over the course of the season, I would not put him in the top five because he lives uncomfortably outside the top 100 when it comes to putting. Just look at his career, from 111th to 119th to 176th.
“If you are not better week-in and week-out putting the golf ball, it’s the reason why you’re going to have periods – almost a whole year, from January to December – where you don’t finish in the top 10, but you are absolutely one of the elite ball-strikers in the world of golf.”
Why putting may not actually be Hideki Matsuyama’s biggest concern
The worry for Matsuyama is that it was not only on the greens where he really struggled in 2025.
He was outside the top 100 on the PGA Tour for strokes gained putting. But the worst area of his game was off the tee where he found himself down in 139th for the 2025 season.
Matsuyama is not a particularly long hitter by PGA Tour standards, having averaged a fraction over 300 yards this past year.
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And given that he is 124th for driving accuracy, there does appear to be plenty for Matsuyama to be concerned about.
It is probably no surprise that Kapalua – the home of perhaps the widest fairways and the most collection areas on the PGA Tour – proved to be where he had his best moment all year.
With The Sentry not on the schedule in 2026, Matsuyama will know how important it is that he makes a significant improvement.
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