Hideki Matsuyama gave golf-mad Japan the biggest and greenest prize of all.
Ten years after Matsuyama made his debut as the best amateur at Augusta National, he claimed the ultimate trophy Sunday with a win in the Masters and became Japan’s first green jacket winner.
Matsuyama finished with a 1-over 73 and a one-time win that was only close at the end, never seriously in doubt after Xander Schauffele’s late attack ended with a triple bogey on the par-3 16th.
Moments before Dustin Johnson got him into the green coat, Matsuyama didn’t need an interpreter in Butler Cabin when he said in English, “I’m really happy.”
Brian Snyder / REUTERS
This performance was so masterful that Matsuyama extended his lead to six shots in the back nine to a few dramatic moments. With a lead of four shots, he went ahead of the green in two on the par-5 15th and he jumped hard off the back slope and into the pond on the 16th hole.
Matsuyama did well to walk away with bogey, and with Schauffele making a fourth consecutive birdie, the lead was reduced to two shots with three to play.
The next swing almost finished it. Schauffele’s tee shot on the par-3 16th bounced off the hill to the left of the green and dribbled into the pond. His third shot from the drop area went into the gallery. It contributed to a triple bogey and his third close call in a major.
It doesn’t matter that Matsuyama boemaned three of his last four holes, the first Masters champion to have a final round over par since Trevor Immelman shot 75 in 2008.
All that mattered was that uphill walk to the 18th green, where all you had to do was shoot out of the bunker and take two putts for the win.
And that’s what he did, 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 ld Masters rookie, took a 5-meter par putt on the final hole for a 70 to finish second. It was the best performance by a first-timer at the Masters since another Dallas guy, Jordan Spieth, came second to Bubba Watson in 2014.
Gregory Bull / AP
Spieth had a few fleeting thoughts to figure out from six shots, except too many missed putts early and missed opportunities late. He bogeyed his last hole for a 70 and finished in third place with Schauffele, who shot a 72 with a triple bogey and a double bogey on his card.
Matsuyama finished 10 under 278 for his 15th worldwide win and sixth on the PGA Tour.
He becomes the second man from an Asian country to win a major. South Korea’s YE Yang won the PGA Championship in Hazeltine over Tiger Woods in 2009.
Returning to the 18th green for the trophy presentation, he put on the green jacket again and raised both arms in triumph. Augusta National allowed a limited number of spectators, presumably about 8,000 a day, and most remembered him perhaps from a decade ago.
He won the Asia-Pacific Amateur to earn an invite to the Masters, and he was a low amateur – tied with defending champion Phil Mickelson that year – to earn a trip to the famous Butler Cabin. He won in Japan as an amateur, and four times after graduating and turning pro. His first win in the PGA Tour was at the Memorial in 2014, prompting tournament host Jack Nicklaus to say, “I think you’ve just seen the beginning of what is really going to be one of the greatest players in your world in the coming years. 10 to 15 years. “
That moment came on Sunday.
Matsuyama isn’t big on emotion, and he speaks even less – even when cornered after each round by the vast contingent of Japanese media.
Most of the media was absent this year due to travel restrictions with COVID-19, and Matsuyama had said on the eve of the latest round that it made things a lot less stressful.
From the start, there was plenty on the golf course.
Matsuyama sent his first tee shot right of the first fairway into the trees. He hit it under the pine straw trees, hit a soft throw that rolled down the slope away from the peg, and was happy to leave with bogey. Two groups before him, Zalatoris opened with two consecutive birdies.
So the lead was only one.
No one got closer to the last hour. Matsuyama birded from the front bunker on the par-5 second hole. He only birdied up to par-5 eighth, and it didn’t matter, because no one could put him under pressure.
Zalatoris misjudged the speed at number 3 and three-putted for bogey from the back of the green. Schauffele was on his way to the third hole within three of the lead, but went bogey-bogey-double bogey on the most difficult three-hole section of the course.
Matsuyama delivered what appeared to be a knockout punch with a handy up and down from the right side of the green on the eighth for a tap-in birdie, and a lob wedge to the dangerous left pin on the ninth that rolled to 3 feet. That sent him to the back nine with a five-shot lead.
For a long time it seemed that Matsuyama couldn’t wait to get to Butler Cabin and see what he looked like in the green.
However, Schauffele rammed into a 20-foot birdie putt from behind the 12th green. He two-putted from 3 yards for a birdie on No. 13. He nearly ran off the fairway for a tap-in birdie on the 14th. And he nearly ran his greenside bunker shot to the par-5 15th for a fourth straight birdie.
And then all that work ended when his ball disappeared below the surface of the pond.
Matsuyama could afford a few bogeys, and the only thing that affected was the final margin. He’s the Masters Champion, a major who defines his elite status in the game and gives Japan its biggest week ever in April. Last Saturday, Tsubasa Kajitani won the second Augusta National Women’s Amateur.
Matsuyama wasn’t there to see it, but he was well aware of it. All he wanted was to follow her path and make Japan proud. His playing spoke volumes.