[2][3] As of January 2025, Matsuyama has 20 worldwide wins, an Olympic bronze medal, ten career top-10 finishes in major championships, and six Presidents Cup appearances.

During eighth grade, he transferred to Meitoku Gijuku Junior & Senior High School in Kochi Prefecture, in search of a better golf environment.

[12] In November, Matsuyama won the Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters on the Japan Golf Tour while still an amateur.

Matsuyama would win his fifth Japan Golf Tour event in December at the Casio World Open.

Matsuyama earned his first PGA Tour win at the 2014 Memorial Tournament, beating Kevin Na in a playoff and moving to a career-high OWGR ranking of 13th.

On 7 February 2016, Matsuyama won the Waste Management Phoenix Open in a playoff with Rickie Fowler.

On 16 October 2016, Matsuyama captured the Japan Open by three strokes over Yuta Ikeda and Lee Kyoung-hoon.

[18] On 30 October 2016, Matsuyama followed up his Japan Open triumph by winning the WGC-HSBC Champions, colloquially known as "Asia's Major", in Shanghai.

[20] In Matsuyama's return to the Waste Management Phoenix Open, he again entered a playoff on Sunday to defend his title, this time against Webb Simpson.

After finishing second in the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, while the top three players in the world at the time (Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day) failed to make the cut, Matsuyama reached 2nd in the Official World Golf Ranking, his highest ever, and the highest ever for a male Japanese golfer.

[21] At the 2017 PGA Championship, Matsuyama had opening rounds of 70–64 to share the 36-hold lead, with Kevin Kisner at Quail Hollow.

In December 2019, Matsuyama played on the International team at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia.

[23] At the conclusion of the tournament, Matsuyama's caddie, Shota Hayafuji, bowed to the 18th fairway of the Augusta course as a gesture of Japanese respect.

[28] On 2 June 2022, at the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio, Matsuyama was disqualified midway through his first round due to having a white paint-like substance on the face of his 3-wood.

Matsuyama qualified for the International team at the 2022 Presidents Cup; he won one, tied one and lost three of the five matches he played.

He entered the final round six strokes off the lead, but overcame the deficit, shooting a 62 to win his first PGA Tour event since the 2022 Sony Open in Hawaii.

[34][35] After winning a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics in August 2024, Matsuyama became the victim of a robbery in London, while in the city during a layover to Memphis, Tennessee for the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

PGA Tour playoff record (4–1) *Note: The 2013 Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters was shortened to 54 holes due to weather.

1Cancelled due to COVID-19 pandemic WD = Withdrew QF, R16, R32, R64 = Round in which player lost in match play NT = No tournament "T" = tied Note that the Championship and Invitational were discontinued from 2022.