NASSAU, Bahamas – Notes and observations from Sunday’s final round of the Hero World Challenge, where Hideki Matsuyama claimed a fourth win in his last five worldwide starts. For more from Albany, check out the Daily Wrap-up.

HOW GOOD IS HIDEKI?

With an impressive fourth win in his last five individual events worldwide, FedExCup leader Hideki Matsuyama continues to lay claim to being the greatest golfing prospect Japan has ever produced. 

The 24-year-old recently won the Japan Open, was second at the CIMB Classic, won the World Golf Championships – HSBC Champions and then won the Taiheiyo Masters before taking home the Hero World Challenge.

He is the first Asian player to win a WGC event and he now has three official PGA TOUR wins with the 2014 Memorial Tournament and the 2016 Waste Management Phoenix Open plus this new unofficial win in Albany.

His Japan Golf Tour wins now total eight, including four in one year (2013) and he has five top-10s in majors from 17 starts.

So, is he Japan’s best? The man himself remains humble.

“There's been some great golfers in Japan. Just to name a few, Jumbo Ozaki, Isao Aoki, Shigeki Maruyama, Tsuneyuki Nakajima,” Matsuyama said.  

“And to be able to follow in their footsteps is a great honor. And then to come to the PGA TOUR and learn from really the best golfers in the world, it's really helped my game.  

“I'm grateful for all of their help. But to answer your question, I'm not the greatest golfer from Japan.”

But the fact remains he is rapidly climbing the list if he isn’t already there. 

Others in the discussion are World Golf Hall of Fame members Aoki and Ozaki. 

Aoki has one PGA TOUR and one European Tour title, 51 Japan Golf Tour wins and five top-10s in majors including a runner-up at the 1980 U.S. Open. 

Ozaki had an incredible 94 Japan Golf Tour wins and three top-10s in majors but failed to win on the PGA TOUR. 

Shigeki Maruyama also won three PGA TOUR events and has three top-10s in majors with 10 Japan Golf Tour wins. 

What would it take for Matsuyama to be the best? Perhaps becoming Japan’s first major winner?

“Jumbo won a hundred times, so unless I win a hundred times, I wouldn't be greater than Jumbo,” he said.

But he has set his sights on major championships.

Only five golfers in Jason Day, Rory McIlroy, Dustin Johnson, Henrik Stenson and Jordan Spieth stand in front of him on the world rankings.

All of them have won majors. 

“Starting next week all my focus and preparation will be for the Masters,” he said.  

“Hopefully, along the way I can play well on the PGA TOUR, but the Masters is my next goal.”

Hero World Challenge host Tiger Woods predicted a very bright future for the tournament champion.

“It's going to give him a boatload of confidence going into next year and he's going to be one of the top guys to beat for a very long time,” Woods said.  

“Look at his swing, look at his game and look at the body that he has, it's built for a workload and it's built to handle the test of time.  

“He's going to be one of the players that we're going to have to beat for a long time.”

Spieth, who now has Matsuyama breathing down his neck on the world rankings fully expects Matsuyama to join the major winners club soon.

“He's got all the keys,” Spieth said.  

“I think he'll be a major champion within the next couple years personally.  It's awesome to see him tearing it up here.”

WOODS THANKFUL FOR REPS

Tiger Woods made a successful return to competitive golf at Albany, leaving the Hero World Challenge happy in his ability to find his rhythm early in rounds. 

Woods was 10-under on the front nine at Albany over his four rounds but 6-over on the back. 

While the back nine is certainly tougher, a degree of rust and fatigue could certainly be blamed. 

“I was pleased with how well I got into the competitive flow of the rounds,” Woods said.  

“That was something I was really worried about because I've come back of layoffs before and it's taken me four, five, six holes before I felt comfortable. 

“Here, last couple days it was on the first hole; the first day it was on the second hole. That's nice. That's how it should be.  

“It's a little different and I'm getting used to that, getting my legs back, getting my body back.

“Trying to manage all the adrenaline dump in the system, trying to calm the nerves, trying to calm the hands, the body, the speed, you're a club longer even on the range warming up. That's just different and I had to find that. I found it question quickly each day.”

Woods led the field with 24 birdies and while he made many mistakes it was proof his magic has not left him. 

“I made some birdies this week, which is nice. I was playing aggressive,” he said. 

“I thought I might have created a little bit of noise a little bit here and there after a couple starts. I just wasn't able to keep it going for two of those rounds, but overall it was a fun, competitive week for me.

“It was nice to have my speed back, get some shots out there again and hit some balls out there with some aggression again and not have to worry about anything. That part felt good, too.”

SPIETH HAPPY WITH ANOTHER BIG YEAR

Backing up from a two major, five win and FedExCup claiming season was always going to be hard but Jordan Spieth feels he did a pretty decent job in 2016. 

As the world No.5 shuts down his calendar year he reflected on a season with positives like two PGA TOUR wins, a Ryder Cup and a win at the Australian Open but also with a collapse at the Masters and average showings at the other majors.

“I think it was a really solid year,” Spieth said. 

“My goal since I was 12 was to get a little bit better than the year before and from when I was 12 years old there was something that I accomplished in the next year that I hadn't done before.

“In '13, we won on TOUR. '14, we won twice… it was a better year than '13, 15's even better.

“This year I didn't quite accomplish  I mean, there was going to be a halt at some point and I certainly would have liked to have closed out the Masters and had maybe another chance or two.  

“But '16 was an awesome year, three wins and a team Ryder Cup win. It's hard to ask for much more than that. 

“I'm fortunate to be extremely healthy, young, playing this game with my friends, traveling with my friends playing golf at some of the world's best places.  

“It's easy to get caught up in the selfish things, but ultimately I'll be a lot happier if I think about that, and I am. '16 was a great year, I'm really looking forward to ‘17.”

STENSON'S RUN COMES UP SHORT

For the second time in recent times Henrik Stenson finished runner up to Hideki Matsuyama. 

The Swede was looking up from position two at the World Golf Championships – HSBC Champions in China recently and while he managed to make up five shots on Sunday he still fell two shy of the Japanese star at Albany.

Through the opening five holes Sunday Stenson sat eight back of his playing partner before he started clawing back, getting within two shots with two to play. 

“I was miles away and it reminded me of the final round at Pinehurst in 2014 when Kaymer was miles ahead and you were just kind of walking in a bit of a vacuum,” Stenson said.

“I started picking up a few shots, made a nice eagle on 9. Then Hideki ended up in a bit of trouble.  

“Unfortunately, I threeputted from long range on 10, but I still picked up a shot there and then it was the double swing on 14 when he made a bit of a clumsy bogey and I made a good upanddown for birdie. 

“Now all of a sudden it felt like, okay, three back with four to go, there's an outside chance if I keep on pressing on.”

But Stenson had had problems with the par-5 15th and par-4 16th all week, making just one birdie on 15 in the opening three rounds despite being in good positions and sitting 3-over on 16 with a bogey and double bogey.

A three-putt par on 15 Sunday was a missed opportunity and while he finally birdied 16, his run came too late.

“If I take out 15 and 16, those have been the two killer holes for me all week,” Stenson said.

But I've got no regrets. It shouldn't have been as close as it was, but it was still more fun that way, at least for me.”

With his record-breaking win at The Open Championship and a win in the Race to Dubai on the European Tour the veteran heads to the holiday season a very happy man.

“I'm delighted with my year. It's been a fantastic year, best year of my career,” he said. 

“So it feels good to finish with a couple of strong rounds here at the final event and I can go home and enjoy that Christmas break with my family.”

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