Following his final round, Rory McIlroy joined the CBS booth to provide live commentary as the players in contention began their back nines. Shortly after Rory sat down, Amanda Renner suggested that Riviera provides a better opportunity to examine the state of one’s game than other venues. Rory agreed.

We learn more from watching professional golf at the Genesis than we learn most weeks on the PGA Tour, and not just because most of the top players in the world compete. Riviera presents a stiff, thorough test. Golfers must control their ball off the tee and hit a bunch of demanding mid/long irons into large, firm greens. We’re not at The American Express anymore; Riviera is reserved for the best ball-strikers only.

Hideki Matsuyama, winner of the 2024 Genesis Invitational, is a certified top-tier ball-striker. Teeing off six strokes back from the lead on Sunday, Matsuyama posted a bogey-free 62 en route to victory. He gained 8.5 strokes on the field, meaning the scoring average for the day was 70.5. It was an exceptional performance from Hideki, who is no stranger to blowing out his competitors. So far in his career, Matsuyama has won the 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions by seven strokes, the 2017 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational by five strokes, the 2021 Zozo Championship by five strokes, and now the 2024 Genesis Invitational by three strokes. Equipped with some of the best iron play on the planet and a world-class short game, Matsuyama can succeed on the most exacting, major championship-like setups in professional golf.

Matsuyama joins an impressive list of golfers who have emerged victorious at both Riviera and Augusta National. Over just the last 12 years, Adam Scott, Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, and now Hideki Matsuyama have all won on both golf courses. I’ll also note that Will Zalatoris, who finished runner-up yesterday, finished runner-up to Matsuyama at the 2021 Masters. The connection between Augusta and Riviera is significant, which hopefully indicates success for Matsuyama in a couple of months.

It’s true that Hideki has a tendency to disappear from leaderboards for extended periods. He has struggled with his putter for his entire career, and he’s recently battled back and neck injuries. Suffice it to say, consistency hasn’t been Matsuyama’s forte over the past few years. As he himself noted during his post-round interview yesterday, the Genesis Invitational is his first top-10 finish on the PGA Tour since last year’s Players Championship. Though Hideki may not be the model of consistency, his ceiling is incredibly high. Sunday was a reminder that when Hideki is healthy and firing on all cylinders, there’s no golf tournament he can’t win.

This piece originally appeared in the Fried Egg Golf newsletter. Subscribe for free and receive golf news and insight every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.