Hideki Matsuyama

34-Year-Old Golfer

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2025 Stats

Rank

Winnings

$6,568,644

Winnings/Entry

$285,593

Entries

Rounds

2026 Fantasy Outlook

2025 had all the looks of being a great season for Matsuyama after he opened the year with a victory at The Sentry. Little did we know that would be his only top 10 of the entire season. Matsuyama would add 11 other top-25s, but not finding himself in the mix again on a Sunday was definitely surprising. The biggest issue for Matsuyama was the driver as he ranked outside the top 130 on Tour in SG: Off-the-Tee and total driving. He did have another strong season from an approach and short game perspective, however. The 33-year-old's upside is hard to determine going into 2026 given his always volatile putter, but really it comes down to whether or not Matsuyama is able to figure out the driver. Read Past Outlooks

Handedness Right

Status Pro

Height 5'11"

Weight 198 lbs

DOB 2/25/1992

Birthplace Ehime, Japan

Country Japan

Climbs leaderboard Sunday

March 16, 2026

Matsuyama fired a final round five-under 67 at THE PLAYERS Championship to finish tied for 27th place.

ANALYSIS
Although Matsuyama was never in contention, that didn't prevent him from posting the lowest round Sunday with six birdies and only one bogey at the difficult venue. He ranked second in the final round in SG: Putting and ranked in the top-20 in birdies made and GIR for the tournament. Following a strong start to the year, the T27 finish is Matsuyama's best result across his last three events.

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PGA Stats

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Tournament Results

Scoring

FanDuel

DraftKings

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PGA Advanced Stats

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Projected PGA Tournament Status

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Past Fantasy Outlooks

2025

2024

2023

2022

2020

2019

2018

2017

2016

2015

2014

After failing to find the win column in the 2022-23 season, Matsuyama bounced back in a big way winning two big events. The first was early in the season at the Genesis Invitational, and the second was to kick of the playoffs at the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Matsuyama only missed one cut in all of 2024 and added seven top-10 finishes, his most in a season since the 2015-16 campaign. The 10-time PGA Tour winner ranked behind only Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele in SG: Tee-to-Green last season, and he led the Tour in SG: Around-the-Green. That's all great, but there is always some level of risk associated with Matsuyama given his injury history and troubles on the greens. The 33-year-old certainly has the talent to put together another multi-win campaign in 2025, but reaching the $10 million plateau again is going to be a challenge.

Though this will be Matsuyama's 11th season on the PGA Tour, he'll be turning just 32 this season. That's important to note because although his game is not at the level that it was 6-7 years ago, there's still plenty of time to get back there. Unlike most of the players in the top-50, Matsuyama's earnings number actually went down this past year. That, however, is great news for anyone considering him in a salary cap format. Matsuyama earned nearly $6 million two seasons ago before elevated events were introduced, so we know he's capable of leaving his number from this past year in the dust. As such, he's a great salary cap option this season.

After Matsuyama won the Zozo Championship in his home country of Japan last fall and followed that with another win at the Sony Open in Hawaii a few months later, it appeared the eight-time PGA Tour winner was heading for a mega season. Unfortunately some injuries slowed his progress after that and he had a rather inconsistent summer, but it was highlighted by a solo fourth at the U.S. Open. After much consideration, Matsuyama will not make the jump to LIV and instead stay with the PGA Tour. Putting will always be the key with the 30-year-old Japanese superstar, but his ranking of 75th in SG: Off-the-Tee was his worst in that category of any season in his career. The ceiling is crazy high with Matsuyama, but the injury questions always have to give you pause.

Matsuyama has spent nearly a decade on the PGA Tour and during that time he's been a highly productive golfer and although he once earned more than $8 million in one season, nothing could compare to winning the Green Jacket, which he did this past April. Heading into that week, Matsuyama was not on anyone's radar as he hadn't played his best golf in a while, but he found the magic for one week and he'll be forever known as a major champion. As for his prospects this season, major champion or not, it doesn't appear like his performance is going to change much overall. He's capable of posting a much bigger earnings number than he did last year, but the bar was set pretty high.

Matsuyama has been the model of consistency in his eight years on the PGA Tour, but surprisingly, he's had just one really impressive year. Surprising because Matsuyama is often thought as one of the best players in the world and yet he has surpassed $5 million in earnings just once. His 2019-20 season was much like most of his seasons on the PGA Tour, very productive, but not elite. Perhaps an elite season is on the horizon, but to expect that this season is just pure speculation.

Six years into his PGA Tour career, it's beginning to look like Matsuyama is destined to be a really good golfer instead of an elite golfer. He had an elite season in 2017, when he won three events and topped $8 million in earnings, but prior to that and since then, he's settled-in around $4 million per season. Last season he failed to even get to $4 million, which puts him in-play as salary cap option this season, but don't expect another $8 million season.

What a strange and ultimately frustrating season for Matsuyama. Matsuyama's year started just fine, with a T4 at the Sentry Tournament of Champions and a T12 at the Farmers, but it all started to fall apart with because of a wrist injury at the Waste Management Open. It's an event that he had won the previous two seasons and not only did he not win there, but his wrist would hamper his production for much of the season. He did start to find some momentum near the end of the season, but his game had become wildly erratic by then. Frustrating for owners who had Matsuyama last season for sure, but the upside is, he's available at a discount price this season. As such, Matsuyama is very close to a must-have this season as he's averaged over $6 million per season in the two seasons leading up to last season.

Matsuyama ranked 173rd in strokes-gained on the greens last season and he still made more than $8 million. Let that sink in, he was one of the worst putters on the PGA Tour and he still managed to earn more than all but three golfers last season. It gives you an idea of how well Matsuyama strikes the ball that he can score without the aid of a putter most weeks. Now, here's the tricky part, it would be easy to assume he's going to improve his putting, but curing putting woes is never a given. If he does fix his putting, he has enough firepower to significantly improve on his enormous number from last season. If he doesn't fix the putter, he simply can't perform any better than he did last season. As such, it's probably wise to pass on Matsuyama in salary cap leagues this season.

Matsuyama made the cut in 13 of 16 starts, recorded seven top-10s, scored one victory and earned over $4 million, all the while ranking 125th in stokes gained from putting. Imagine what he could have accomplished if he'd putted with any kind of competence last season? With that in mind, Matsuyama makes for an interesting salary cap option this year because his ceiling should be in the range of someone like Adam Scott, who happened to make nearly $6.5 million last year. In draft leagues, Matsuyama is a first-round selection.

Matsuyama entered the 2014 season with a lot of expectations, and for the most part, he didn't disappoint. Matsuyama is actually one of only a few players over the past decade that have lived-up to early expectations, which can only mean that great things lie ahead. The only problem with Matsuyama is his high number from last season. He's probably worth the risk in salary cap leagues, but at nearly $3 million he can't be considered a "must-have". In draft leagues he should go late in the 2nd or early in the 3rd round.

Matsuyama shocked the golf world by winning FedEx Cup playoff event a few years back, but it's been all down hill since. Upside appears limited.

More Fantasy News

T41 at Bay Hill

March 10, 2026

Matsuyama carded an even-par 72 on Sunday in the final round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational to finish tied for 41st.