Matsuyama comes up short in Sony Open title defence

Hideki Matsuyama came up short in his title defence bid at the Sony Open in Hawaii as he could only finish tied-48th at the Waialae Country Club in Honolulu on Sunday.

The 30-year-old, who won last year to be only second Japanese winner in the tournament history after the legendary Isao Aoki became the first Asian conqueror in 1983, carded rounds of 68, 69, 65 and 71 to end the week on a seven-under 273 total.

Matsuyama finished 11 shots behind South Korean winner Si Woo Kim, who kept Asia's flag flying high after firing a final-round 64 to clinch a one-shot victory over American Hayden Buckley.

The other Japanese representatives who made the weekend rounds were Keita Nakajima, Taiga Semikawa and Kazuki Higa.

Nakajima closed with a 71 to be placed joint-54th at six-under 274, three ahead of Semikawa, who marked his maiden PGA Tour appearance with a tied-67th finish.

Reigning money title winner Kazuki Higa was 72nd on 278.

Kaito Onishi, Yuto Katsuragawa and amateur Kohei Okata were also in the fray but had missed the cut.

Leading final round scores:

262: Si Woo Kim (Kor) 67-67-64-64;

263: Hayden Buckley (US) 67-64-64-68;

265: Chris Kirk (US) 64-65-68-68;

266: Andrew Putnam (US) 70-66-62-68, David Lipsky (US) 65-66-66-69, Ben Taylor (Eng) 66-66-65-69;

267: Aaron Baddeley (Aus) 67-70-65-65, Matt Kutchar (US) 70-67-64-66, Maverick McNealy (US) 66-67-67-67, Nate Lashley (US) 69-65-65-68, Nick Taylor (Can) 70-68-62-67.

Selected Japanese:

273: Hideki Matsuyama 68-69-65-71;

274: Keita Nakajima 70-67-66-71;

277: Taiga Semikawa 71-66-67-73;

278: Kazuki Higa 69-69-69-71.