A greenhorn no more

AUGUSTA (Georgia) • Hideki Matsuyama's first swing in the final round of the 85th Masters was an unsightly banana-shaped slice that would have looked familiar on the nerve-wracking first tee of any golf course in the world.

The Japanese, who entered Sunday's fourth round with a four-shot lead, hunted down his wayward drive in the left woods and chose an intrepid course, smashing his ball from a bed of wispy pine straw through a slender gap between two trees.

His caddie, Shota Hayafuji, yelped, "Woo," which elicited a toothy grin from the typically undemonstrative Matsuyama.

Even though he bogeyed the first hole, the tone for his day was set.

A teenage golf prodigy in Japan who has long been expected to break through on golf's biggest stage, Matsuyama, 29, fearlessly charged the daunting Augusta National Golf Club layout on Sunday to build a commanding lead.

Even with three bogeys in the closing holes, he persevered with a gutsy final-round one-over 73 to finish at 10-under 278, winning the Masters by one stroke over debutant Will Zalatoris (70).

Xander Schauffele (72) tied for third place at seven under with 2015 champion Jordan Spieth (70).

Matsuyama, who jumped 11 spots to world No. 14 with his win here, is not only the tournament's first Asian-born champion but just the second Asian-born male after South Korean Yang Yong-eun at the 2009 PGA Championship to win a Major.

His groundbreaking victory will make him a national hero in golf-crazy Japan. While compatriots Hinako Shibuno and Hisako Higuchi have won women's Majors, their male counterparts had fallen short on the biggest stage, despite the country's history of producing world-class golfers, until now.

Matsuyama's ascendancy marks a full circle in his stellar career as it was at Augusta National 10 years ago that he first announced his arrival on the global stage by emerging as the low amateur.

Then, he watched Phil Mickelson slipping the Green Jacket on South African Charl Schwartzel, and he was soon beaming with pride when last year's champion, world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, did the honours for him.

The long-awaited victory, which was his sixth PGA Tour title and his first since August 2017, was written in the stars as seven days ago, 17-year-old compatriot Tsubasa Kajitani won the Augusta National Women's Amateur.

Matsuyama plans to return home to celebrate with family and friends. When asked if he was now the greatest Japanese golfer ahead of the likes of 1980 US Open runner-up Isao Aoki and Jumbo Ozaki, he was his typical humble self.

"You know, I can't say I'm the greatest. However, I'm the first to win a Major, and if that's the bar, then I've set it," he said.

"Until now, we haven't had a (men's) Major champion in Japan, and maybe a lot of golfers or younger golfers, too, thought, well, maybe that's an impossibility.

"But with me doing it, hopefully, that will set an example for them that it is possible and that, if they set their mind to it, they can do it, too.

"Hopefully I'll be a pioneer in this and many other Japanese will follow. I'm glad to be able to open the floodgates, and hopefully many more will follow me."

NYTIMES, PGATOUR.COM