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.
Masters champion Matsuyama receives Prime Minister's Award
Matsuyama, 29, was recognized for encouraging people in northeastern Japan, hit hard by the massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 and the nuclear crisis that followed, and giving them courage in the 10th anniversary year of the calamity by claiming the title at Augusta National Golf Club, according to the government.
Change Size
Hideki Matsuyama of Japan celebrates on the 18th green after winning the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on April 11, 2021 in Augusta, Georgia. (AFP/Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
H
ideki Matsuyama received the Prime Minister's Award Friday after becoming the first Japanese to win the prestigious Masters Tournament golf major in the United States.
Matsuyama, 29, was recognized for encouraging people in northeastern Japan, hit hard by the massive earthquake and tsunami in 2011 and the nuclear crisis that followed, and giving them courage in the 10th anniversary year of the calamity by claiming the title at Augusta National Golf Club, according to the government.
In 2011 at the time of the quake-tsunami incident, Matsuyama was studying at Tohoku Fukushi University in Miyagi Prefecture, an area affected by the disaster.
"We want to thank you for bringing courage and hope to the disaster-hit areas," Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga said as he handed over the award at his office, noting U.S. President Joe Biden congratulated him on Matsuyama's win when the two leaders met earlier this month in Washington.
"I will work hard to win a gold medal in the Tokyo Olympics" this summer, Matsuyama told reporters after the ceremony.
The government gave the award last year to the Hayabusa2 space probe project team, which successfully brought home soil and gas samples from a distant asteroid to aid research into the origins of life and the evolution of the solar system.
Matsuyama's award is the 34th to have been handed out to an individual.
