You should never, ever take Hideki Matsuyama’s reaction to a shot to portend anything about how it may all turn out or where the ball might land. This has become a well-known phenomenon on the PGA Tour as the superstar has rocketed into prominence and on the cusp of the world No. 1 ranking.
Hideki Matsuyama reacts in disgust and looks away from his near hole-in-one
Hideki is doing Hideki things at Riviera, where what he thought was an awful shot nearly went in for an ace.
We’ve seen the disgusted one-handed follow-through, the frustrated club drop, the exasperated sighs, and the hanging of head in shame for shot after shot that ends up almost perfect. Either he has absolutely no sense of where the ball is going every time he strikes it, or his standards are stupidly high.
The tables appeared to turn with the audience back home as he was on his way to winning yet again two weeks ago in Phoenix, with viewers getting increasingly frustrated.
This shot in the opening round at Riviera, however, may be peak Hideki. The ball beat up the flagstick and nearly went in for an ace, but Matsuyama was downright revolted after it left his clubface:
I don’t think we’ll get a stronger example of the Hideki than that. If it keeps happening, as it did hole after hole in Phoenix and in Hawaii at the start of the year, I think people will continue to be turned off by one of the top 20-something ultra-talents in the game. That may not be fair and Hideki maybe can’t help himself, but that’s how this is going. I’ll remain amused.
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