Hideki Matsuyama becomes the first Japanese player to win the Masters in a nail-biting finish

Hideki Matsuyama gave the golf mad Japan the best and greenest prize.

Ten years after Matsuyama made an excellent debut as the best amateur at Augusta National, he achieved the best trophy on Sunday with a victory in the Masters to become the first Japanese winner of the green jacket.

Matsuyama finished with a 1-over 73 and a one-win that was just close at the end, and was never seriously in doubt after Xander Schauffele’s late charge ended with a triple bow on the par-3 16th. .

Moments before Dustin Johnson helped him in the green jacket, Matsuyama did not need an interpreter in Butler Cabin when he said in English, “I’m really happy.”

So masterful was this performance that Matsuyama extended his lead to six shots on the back of the net to a few moments of drama. With a lead of four strokes, he went to the green in two on the par-5 15th and it bordered from the back slope into the pond on the 16th hole.

Matsuyama did well to walk away with bogey, and with Schauffele making a fourth straight birdie, the lead was up to two strokes with three to play.

The next turn ended everything but. Schauffele’s tee shot on the par-3 16th bounces off the hill to the left of the green and drips into the pond. His third shot from the fall area is in the gallery. It contributes to a triple bow, and his third decisive call in a major.

No matter how much Matsuyama has missed three of his last four holes, he became the first Masters champion with a final round above par since Trevor Immelman shot 75 in 2008.

All that mattered was the uphill step to the 18th green, and just needed to blow out of the bunker and take two set shots for the win.

And that’s what he’s done while dipping into the moment with a few thousand spectators on their feet to celebrate a career-changing moment – for 29-year-old Matsuyama, and he’s hoping for a whole country.

“Hopefully I will be a pioneer and many other Japanese will follow,” Matsuyama said.

Will Zalatoris, the 24-year-old Masters rookie, hit an 18-foot mark on the final hole for a 70-yard line and was the runner-up. It was the best performance by a first time for the Masters since another Dallas kid, Jordan Spieth, was the runner-up in 2014 as Bubba Watson.

Spieth had a few fleeting thoughts to come off six shots, except that too much was missed and missed the opportunities. He hit his last hole for a 70 and tied for third place with Schauffele, who shot a 72 with a triple shot and a double shot on his card.

Matsuyama finished 10th under 278 for his 15th win worldwide, and his sixth at the PGA Tour.

He becomes the second man from an Asian country to win a major. YE Yang of South Korea won the 2009 PGA Championship at Hazeltine over Tiger Woods.

When he returns to the 18th green for the trophy presentation, he puts on the green jacket again and lifts both arms triumphantly. Augusta National allowed limited spectators, apparently about 8,000 a day, and most might have remembered him from a decade ago.

He won the Asia-Pacific amateur to earn an invitation to the Masters, and he was a low amateur – equal to defending champion Phil Mickelson that year – to earn a trip in the famous Butler Cabin. He won in Japan as an amateur, and four times after graduating from university and being a pro. His first PGA Tour victory was at the Memorial in 2014, which prompted tournament host Jack Nicklaus to say, ‘I think you’ve just seen the beginning of what really is one of your world’s greatest players in the next Is going to be 10 to 15 years. “

That moment came Sunday.

Matsuyama is not big on emotion, and he talks even less – even if he is tipped by the big Japanese media after every round.

Most media were absent this year due to COVID-19 travel restrictions, and Matsuyama said on the eve of the final round that it made things less stressful.

There was a lot on the golf course from the beginning.

Matsuyama sends his starting shot into the trees to the right of the first highway. He struck it under the trees of the pine straw, struck a soft pitch that rolled down the slope from the peg, and was gladly away with bogey. Two groups in front of him start Zalatoris with two straight birds.

Similarly, the lead was on one.

No one approached until the last hour. Matsuyama made a birdie from the front bunker on the par-5 second hole. He did not make a birdie again until the eighth par-5, and it did not matter because no one could put pressure on him.

Zalatoris set the speed at no. 3 misjudged and scored from the top of the green for tries. Schauffele was within three of the lead to the third hole, only to go arc-arc-double arc on the toughest three-hole course on the course.

Matsuyama hit a knockout blow in eighth place with a handy up-and-down right from the green for a touchdown birdie and a lob wedge on the dangerous left pin on the ninth that rolls out to 3 feet. . That sent him nine from behind with a five-stroke lead.

For the longest time, it seemed like Matsuyama could not wait to get out at Butler Cabin and see what he looked like in green.

However, Schauffele bumped a 20-foot birdie set from behind the 12th green. He sat at number 13 from ten feet down for birdie. He stabbed on the 14th almost off the fairway for a knock-in birdie. And he almost stabbed his green bunker shot on the 15th par-5 for a fourth straight birdie.

And then all the work ended when his ball disappeared beneath the pond’s surface.

Matsuyama was able to afford some money, and all that was affected was the final margin. He is the Masters champion, a major who determines his elite status in the match and gives Japan the biggest week he has ever had in April. Last Saturday, Tsubasa Kajitani won the second Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

Matsuyama was not there to see it, but he was well aware of it. All he wanted was to follow her path and make Japan proud. His play spoke volumes.