KAPALUA, Maui >> If Hideki Matsuyama has been Superman the last few months, then Justin Thomas must be Lex Luthor.

Firing a final-round 69, Thomas slipped a piece of kryptonite into Matsuyama’s world disguised as an 8-iron en route to winning the SBS Tournament of Champions with a 72-hole total of 22-under 270.

He held off Matsuyama — who closed with a 70 for a four-day finish of 19-under 273 — by three shots.

Defending champion Jordan Spieth equaled the best round of the week with an 8-under 65 to tie for third with Pat Perez (67) and Ryan Moore (71) at 16-under 276 on the par-73 Plantation Course.

Past TOC winners Dustin Johnson (69) and Patrick Reed (70) tied for sixth with Brendan Steele (71) at 15-under 277.

But this day belonged to Thomas and Matsuyama.

Coming into this event, Matsuyama had won four of his last five starts around the world to carry the label as the hottest golfer on the planet.

His only loss was a second-place finish last October at the CIMB Classic in Malaysia to Thomas, who won that event for the second straight time.

Fast-forward to Maui, where the talented twosome hooked up again in a classic duel that left an overflow crowd crying for more as they went back and forth over the closing nine holes.

Thomas began the day with a two-shot lead over Matsuyama that swelled to five as the final twosome walked off the 13th green. But for those who thought this match was over, they quickly changed their tune when Matsuyama eagled with a hole-out from 20 yards at the par-4 14th followed by a Thomas double bogey at the par-5 15th that left them a single shot apart as they approached the final three holes.

But it was at the par-4 17th where Thomas made a statement.

His 4-iron second shot at the 15th went into the hazard along the left fairway that forced him to take a drop that led to an eventual seven for the hole. Now at the 17th with his trusty 8-iron in his hands, Thomas stuck it to 3 feet and called it his best shot this week.

After barely missing a 10-footer for birdie at 16 that could have tied it, Matsuyama faced a 33-footer for birdie at 17 that he knew he had to sink, but hit it too hard, some 4 feet by that he missed coming back for bogey. Thomas sunk the kick-in birdie to extend his margin to three shots that he wouldn’t relinquish.

Both golfers birdied the easy par-5 closing hole as the crowd rose as one as Thomas captured the biggest event of his career and the first-place check of $1.22 million that goes with it. He now has three victories on the PGA Tour. The Alabama alum was greeted off the 18th green by his mom and dad, and close friends Spieth and Jimmy Walker as all three golfers head to Oahu this week to play in the Sony Open in Hawaii.

“I was very calm,” Thomas said. “I just felt great going into today, and just the week, just because I felt like I was playing well enough to where if I just manage my game well and I minimize my mistakes, then I should at least be around the hunt.

“Especially coming into today, I just kept telling myself, especially being this windy, it’s tough out there. This place is playing — it’s harder than at least I’ve played it, and I just was trying to hit fairways and hit greens to give myself birdie putts. Made it a little harder on myself than I would have liked, but I got it done.”

At 23, Thomas is the third-youngest player to win here behind Tiger Woods (21) and Spieth (22). He is part of standout group of young golfers who are taking over the tour. It was something he addressed when asked how he felt when some of his peers were winning and he was not.

“I think it drove me a lot,” he said. “It’s weird, I mean, some of my good friends, I mean, I’m never — trying to think how I’m going to word this. I wasn’t mad, but it was maybe a little frustrating sometimes seeing some friends and peers my age do well. Not because I wasn’t cheering for them because I feel like I was as good as them. It’s just immature of me. I mean, the fact of the matter is, over the course of a long career, we’re going to beat each other. That’s just how it is.

“I just feel like, maybe the first time in Malaysia when I won when I was in there, I was maybe kind of like, you know, what am I doing here, but now it’s like, OK, I belong here, I should be here. Now use the past experiences to my advantage and kind of go from there sort of thing, I guess.”

He and 22 other golfers playing this week now set their sites on the Sony Open. Spieth said he feels confident heading over to Waialae Country Club to play a course diametrically opposed to the expansive Plantation Course. You know Matsuyama wants to do well in an event sponsored by a Japanese company and Thomas is already thinking about the first full-field event of the year as well.

“I’m going to have to regroup and focus on next week, because next week is a course that I really like and I feel like another good opportunity for me to be in the hunt and have a chance to win,” Thomas said.

The kryptonite 8-iron is back in his bag. Given how things have been going of late, he just might need it again come Sunday.