[ad_1]
Hideki Matsuyama made historical past by turning into the primary Japanese golfer to win a significant. The 29-year –previous needed to overcome late drama and slip-ups to earn the Inexperienced Jacket. The Japanese went into the Augusta carrying the load of a golf-obsessed nation disadvantaged of the win for a very long time. Each shot he made at Augusta Nationwide Golf Membership had the flexibility to create historical past. There are moments when the load appeared an excessive amount of when Matsuyama nearly surrendered a five-shot lead.
He gained the competitors one stroke in entrance of Will Zalatoris, an American rookie who was his fiercest competitor. The Japanese started the ultimate spherical 11 below par and a four-stroke lead forward of 4 golfers – Americas Zalatoris and Xander Schauffele and England’s Justin Rose, and Australia’s Marc Lieshman.
Matsuyama needed to survive a few of his personal slip-ups late within the spherical and a fierce problem down the again 9 from Schauffele to say the historic Inexperienced Jacket. Shauffele, who completed 7-under, carded 4 birdies in a row earlier than ending the problem with a triple-bogey on the par-3 sixteenth.
Talking after his iconic win, Matsuyama revealed that he felt nervous from the start of the competitors till the tip. He additionally acknowledged that the considered his household is what saved him going.
Hideki Matsuyama needed to get better from a gap–gap bogey and birdies on the 2nd, eighth, and ninth. He prolonged his result in six photographs on the again 9. Nevertheless, he left the door open for Schauffele after hitting the water along with his sight on the inexperienced in two of his on the par-5 fifteenth. After Shauffele made 4 straight birdies, Matsuyama’s lead was reduce to 2 photographs with three left to play. However, the Japanese was a beneficiary of the American’s nightmare on the sixteenth gap, which confirmed his victory.
On the 18th, Matsuyama landed within the bunker however made his technique to the inexperienced to seize two putts to say his first win in his tenth look at Augusta. As he celebrated his victory, the brand new Masters champion revealed that he had by no means made it to the highest 10 on the tour till the week earlier than the event. He even claimed that he had no expectations going into the event. Nevertheless, as he educated on Wednesday earlier than the competitors kicked off, his photographs gave him some hope. Hideki is now as brief as 26/1 to retain the Masters in subsequent 12 months’s renewal.
Matsuyama comes from Ehime Prefecture on the Shikoku island. He claimed that he was hopeful that his victory would open the best way for different Japanese golfers to comply with go well with. Furthermore, he was optimistic that kids watching him on TV would encourage kids to wish to attain that stage sooner or later.
Zalatoris, 24, was making his debut at Augusta, and he put in an excellent efficiency. He was on a mission to repeat Fuzzy Zoeller’s achievement of 1979 by successful the Masters in his first time of asking. He actually got here shut, however he birdied two out of his final 4 holes to card a closing spherical of 70. That slip-up noticed him lose a chance of playoffs with the Japanese by one stroke.
Matsuyama acquired accolades from many golf stars, together with five-time Masters winner Tiger Woods. The golf celebrity took to Twitter to acknowledge the importance of Matsuyama’s win to his native nation and the world of golf. He claimed that the victory would impression the worldwide golf scene.
The 2021 winner additionally acquired reward from Isao Aoki, the Chairman of the Japan Golf Tour and a longtime member of the PGA tour. The chairman extolled the golfer for his arduous work and claimed that the victory was a dream-come-true for Japan’s golf followers.
Aoki reiterated that every one golf followers in Japan had waited for the Masters win for a very long time. He additionally acknowledged that Matsuyama will need to have given every part to win, and he hoped that the golfer would proceed doing exploits on the world golf scene.
His victory makes him the second golfer from the Asian continent to win a males’s main. Y.E. Yang of South Korea was the primary Asian after successful the PGA Championship in 2009.
Matsuyama is a five-time winner of the PGA Tour and has additionally gained the Japan Golf Tour eight instances. He made his Masters’s debut ten years in the past as an novice. Two girls from Japan have additionally gained majors. Hisako Higuchi was victorious on the 1977 LPGA Championship, and Hinako Shibuno was the champion on the 2019 Ladies’s British Open.
Matsuyama’s win completes a promising two-week interval for Japanese golfers on the historic membership. His compatriot Tsubasa Kajitani emerged victorious on the Augusta Nationwide Ladies’s Championship on April 3 on the identical venue.
Matsuyama’s subsequent project will likely be to win gold for his nation within the Tokyo Olympics. His expertise from Augusta will give him the most effective expertise to compete on the Olympics on residence soil.
[ad_2]