Augusta National has been hosting one of the crown jewels of the PGA tour since 1934. Until today, no Japanese player had ever won the coveted green jacket. In a year marred by violence against the Asian community, Hideki Matsuyama just made history.
Carrying a four stroke lead into Sunday, Hideki had a few anxious moments down the back 9, watching his lead shrink to a less comfortable margin heading into the final few holes. But after Schauffele triple bogeyed the 16th, the green jacket was his to lose as the tournament wound down. Electing to play it safe with a two putt par on 17 and two putt bogey on 18, the 29 year old could finally exhale as the reality sunk in. He was the 2021 Masters champion.
Matsuyama becomes the first Japanese born player to win a Major title on the PGA tour, and only the second of Asian descent to do so (the first being South Korea’s Y.E. Yang at the 2009 PGA Championship). And while he may be receiving the green jacket for the first time in his career, tonight is actually his second trip to Butler Cabin, having won the Silver Cup for the low amateur score back in 2011.
A mysterious figure to even the most devout of golf fans, Hideki is notoriously private about his personal life. While he may not be a household name in North America, he is one of the most recognizable faces back in his home country of Japan, often golfing with the Prime Minister and foreign dignitaries. Hideki elects to use a translator in most of his English interviews, and isn’t going to give any attention grabbing headlines with his reserved responses to questions. That being said, as Adam Scott pointed out, that may be more of a personal choice than a necessity. “I think he probably knows a little more English than he lets on” Scott said when asked about Hideki, “but it’s easy for him to kind of put the blinkers on and really not get distracted by much noise.” While most players headed to the clubhouse or media tents on the course during the rain delay, Hideki reportedly went to his car to play video games until the storm passed.
While the PGA Tour is the pinnacle of golf in terms of competition and media coverage, in Matsuyama’s case, it could be argued that he goes to PGA events to blend in. In Japan golf is an absolutely massive sport. Half of the golf courses in all of Asia are located within its borders. More importantly than that, because of massive initiation fees (90% of the courses in Japan are private clubs), and the perception that golf is a sport for the older generation, participation in the sport has been on the decline in recent years. Which is why the Japanese media are so hellbent on latching on to a young star player like Matsuyama and selling him to the public as the sport’s savior.
Picture the throng of fans following Tiger Woods down the 18th fairway back in 2018 at the Tour Championship. That’s akin to what Hideki experiences at your average tournament on the Japan Golf Tour (yes, Japan has its own tour while every other country in the continent takes part in the Asian Tour). So even though Japan regularly sends 20+ credentialed members of the media to cover Hideki at tournaments in North America, the crowds he sees abroad seem like the old NGA Hooters Tour compared to what he deals with on home soil. Needless to say, this victory will be a massive boon for golf across the Pacific.
For those unfamiliar with Matsuyama, he’s no flash in the pan Rich Beem major winner whom you’ll never hear from again. Hideki has multiple PGA/European tour wins to his credit, has been ranked as high as #2 in the world (2017) and has finished in the top 6 at all four majors before finally breaking through at Augusta. Coupled with his Japanese counterpart Tsubasa Kajitani capturing the second annual Augusta National Women’s Amateur a week earlier, it’s possible we find ourselves on the cusp of a golf renaissance in Japan.
For a country that has been sending golfers to the Masters since 1936, with at least one Japanese golfer in the field every year since 1968, Matsuyama’s victory is a landmark achievement for a once golf crazed nation. 10 years after winning the low amateur title at Augusta, Hideki earned his major breakthrough. For both Matsuyama, and Japanese golf fans alike, the long wait is finally over.
-Kyle Skinner
Twitter: @dynessports