ALBANY – Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama outlasted Alex Noren of Sweden in a one-hole play-off to win the Hero World Challenge on Dec 7 at Albany Golf Course in the Bahamas.

Both players closed with sparkling eight-under 64s to finish regulation tied at 22-under 266, before Matsuyama ended it with a laser-tight birdie on the extra hole.

In the play-off, Matsuyama hit a nine-iron that landed a couple of feet from the flag on the 18th hole. Noren had a 20-foot putt that slid left, and Matsuyama tapped in for the title.

When asked what his best shot of the tournament was, Matsuyama had a straightforward answer: the second shot in the play-off.

“Couldn’t make (a) birdie putt on 14, 15, 16, 17 and 18,” Matsuyama said through an interpreter. “So we decided (to) go right at it.”

Austria’s Sepp Straka, who entered Dec 7 with a one-stroke lead, posted 68 and birdied the last hole to finish solo third at 21 under. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (68) and J.J. Spaun (65) shared fourth at 20 under, while England’s Justin Rose (66) took sixth at 18 under and Canada’s Corey Conners (65) was 17 under.

“It was a good week,” Straka said after the round. “Came into the week really just trying to see where my game was after working on my swing a little bit in the offseason, working on a few things.

“Still feels a little bit like a work in progress, but it always is. So really happy with the progress we’ve made over the off-season and yeah, looking forward to continuing to work to the start of next season.”

The small, elite field produced low numbers all week, but Matsuyama completed a bogey-free final round highlighted by a momentum-swinging hole-out eagle from 116 yards on the par-four 10th to catch Straka for a share of the lead.

Matsuyama credited watching Noren, his playing partner, hit a similar shot to helping set up his eagle.

“No. 10, to win we (needed at ...