TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Matsuyama wins Masters, becomes Japan's first men's major champion
Matsuyama finished one stroke ahead of American rookie Will Zalatoris after carding four birdies and five bogies for a final-round score of 73 and 10-under for the four days.
Change Size
Hideki Matsuyama of Japan celebrates during the Green Jacket Ceremony after winning the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on April 11, 2021 in Augusta, Georgia. (AFP/Jared C. Tilton/Getty Images)
H
ideki Matsuyama won the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on Sunday to become the first player from Japan to claim a men's major championship.
Matsuyama finished one stroke ahead of American rookie Will Zalatoris after carding four birdies and five bogies for a final-round score of 73 and 10-under for the four days.
He started the final round 11 under par with a four-stroke lead over four golfers -- England's Justin Rose, Australia's Marc Leishman and Americans Xander Schauffele and Zalatoris.
Matsuyama survived some late slip-ups, and a determined challenge down the back nine from Schauffele, who finished 7-under, to claim the iconic green jacket in dramatic fashion.
The 27-year-old Schauffele carded four straight birdies before his challenge ended with a triple-bogey on the par-3 16th.
"I felt nervous from the start of the day and right through until the end," Matsuyama said. "I was thinking about (my family) all the way around. I'm really happy I was able to play well for them."
Matsuyama recovered from an opening-hole bogey with birdies on the second, eighth and ninth. He stretched his lead to six shots on the back nine, but left the door open for Schauffele when he hit the water going for the green in two on the par-5 15th.
Following Schauffele's fourth straight birdie, the lead was down to two shots with three to play, but the American's nightmare on the 16th hole all but ensured the 29-year-old Matsuyama's victory.
Matsuyama landed in the bunker on the 18th, but blasted his way onto the green to give himself two putts to win the championship.
The native of Ehime Prefecture on the island of Shikoku said he hoped to lead the way for other Japanese golfers to win majors.
"Hopefully I'll be a pioneer and many other Japanese will follow," he said.
The 24-year-old Zalatoris, playing two groups in front of Matsuyama, was bidding to become the first player since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979 to win the Masters on debut.
He birdied two of his last four holes to card a final round of 70 and miss a playoff with Matsuyama by a single stroke.
A five-time winner on the PGA Tour and eight-time winner on the Japan Golf Tour, Matsuyama made his Masters debut a decade ago as an amateur. Only weeks after his university town of Sendai was hit by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami disaster, Matsuyama finished in a tie for 27th as the tournament's low-scoring amateur.
Two women from Japan have won majors -- Hisako Higuchi at the 1977 LPGA Championship and Hinako Shibuno at the 2019 Women's British Open.
Matsuyama's victory completes an auspicious two-week period for Japanese golfers at the iconic club after compatriot Tsubasa Kajitani won the Augusta National Women's Amateur Championship there on April 3.
