Hideki Matsuyama retains Phoenix Open title after four-hole play-off

Hideki Matsuyama enhanced his status as the hottest golfer in the world after he overcame Webb Simpson in a tense four-hole play-off at the Waste Management Phoenix Open.

Both players had finished tied at the top on 17 under at TPC Scottsdale, and they traded pars over the first three extra holes before Matsuyama holed a 10-foot putt for the winning birdie on the 17th green to successfully defend his title.

Matsuyama was one roll of the ball away from winning in regulation as his birdie putt on the 72nd hole pulled up less than an inch from the cup, and he tapped in to complete a bogey-free five-under 66 and join Simpson at the summit.

As overnight leader Byeong Hun An and Martin Laird both faltered on the final day, Simpson emerged from the chasing pack to set the clubhouse target after he produced a superb 64, while impressive charges from Louis Oosthuizen and Rickie Fowler came up just short.

Simpson had a great look at a winning birdie putt from 15 feet on the first play-off hole, but he left it a foot short before a similar effort second time around grazed the left edge of the cup.

Matsuyama did well to pitch and putt for his four and the leading pair both made battling pars as the play-off moved to the par-four 10th, where both recovered from blocking their drives into the same fairway bunker.

The defending champion then pummeled a three-wood to within a couple of yards of the 17th green, while Simpson's drive took an unfortunate bounce into the fringe and left him with no direct putt at the rear pin.

Simpson skirted the bunker with his putt and left himself 15 feet for birdie, but he sank to his haunches after his ball ran over the left edge of the hole before Matsuyama, who edged out Rickie Fowler in a play-off 12 months ago, stepped up to clinch his fourth PGA Tour title.

Matsuyama had earlier put pressure on the final group when he hit a stunning 254-yard second to inside three feet at the third which set up an eagle, and he picked up another shot at the fifth before grinding out seven successive pars.

Further birdies at the 13th and 15th took him into the lead, but he missed good chances from inside 15 feet at 16 and from half that distance on 17 before his frustrating par at the last gave Simpson a lifeline.

Simpson, chasing his first win since October 2013, also eagled the third from five feet and birdies at six and eight took him to the turn in 31 before a run of six pars appeared to have left him too far back to contend.

But he then birdied three of the last four holes, nailing a 10-foot putt on the 17th before knocking a precise 145-yard approach to six feet at the last which he converted to post the low round of the day.

Oosthuizen leapt into outright third on 16 under after closing with a faultless six-birdie 65, while Fowler staged a late charge with four birdies in five holes from the 13th as he also fired a 65.

Fowler shared fourth with JJ Spaun (67), but it was a day to forget for An and Laird in the final group. An maintained his overnight lead as he cruised to the turn in 33 to get to 18 under, but he bogeyed the 10th and then dumped his approach into water at the next.

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Bogeys at 17 and 18 completed a miserable back-nine for the South Korean as he limped in with a 73, while Laird failed to make a single birdie all day as he carded 16 pars and two bogeys to finish four shots off the lead.