TEEING OFF THE TO NORMALITY LO NG DRIVE
Sense of renewal as Matsuyama makes history
THERE was a uniquely Japanese postscript to Hideki Matsuyama’s Masters victory when his caddie Shota Hayafuji reinserted the flagstick at the 18th after the winning putt, removed his cap and bowed to the course.
Respect underscores Japanese society and this was his way of paying homage to Augusta National and the 85th Masters. There was a little of all of us in that bow.
It will go down in history for the nationality of its winner but, given what everyone has gone through over the past year, MUTUAL RESPECT there was much more to it besides. Big sports events are seasonal staging posts to lean on, calendar markers which give context to the year as well as entertainment. Augusta National tried its best in November with a behind-closed-doors tournament but nothing underlined the strangeness of the times more than a damp, azalea-free autumnal Masters. Back in its rightful place, with the traditional blaze of colour its as backdrop, everything Masters just felt right.
The course was its magnificent, malevolent, mirthful best – giving generously with one hand and taking cruelly with the other.
The cast was global with an Asian winner, a fresh-faced American runner-up in Will Zalatoris, who seemed to know the place from another life, and four different continents represented in the top 10 on the leaderboard.
And the back-nine drama on Sunday, as Matsuyama almost handed the Green Jacket to Xander Schauffele only for the American to take a running jump into the water at 16, was utterly gripping. There were even fans there to enjoy it.
There was a sense of renewal about the whole show – The Masters reloaded – which flowed on into yesterday’s first tentative steps out of lockdown as shops, barbers and about this pub gardens reopened around us. Fingers crossed, the 2021 Masters will represent the starting gun towards normality
For Matsuyama, though, there will be nothing remotely normal about his life from now on. With one 12-inch putt he secured himself a Green Jacket and £1.5million but that is only the half of it. Golf is a big deal in Japan and The Masters has a mythical aura. In winning it he has achieved deity status in his homeland.
“Hideki will also now forever be a hero to his country,” said Jack
Big sports events are staging posts to lean on
Nicklaus. “This is a great day for him, for Japan, and for the global game of golf.” Tomorrow marks 100 days to go until the start of the Tokyo Olympics. Matsuyama was asked afterwards how he would fancy lighting the cauldron if a request comes his way. “What an honour that would be,” said Matsuyama, a man of few words in either English or
Japanese. Tennis Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka might have something to say about that, as might gymnast Kohei Uchimura, but a flag carrier in a Green Jacket might look pretty cool at the opening ceremony.
The garment is his for 12 months before it is returned to Augusta National and kept there in perpetuity for him to wear when he returns. He has a ticket for life to The Masters now.
Matsuyama’s own sporting heroes were baseball players but the 29-year-old’s hope is that becoming the first male Japanese Major winner may divert the next generation towards golf.
“It’s thrilling to think that there are a lot of youngsters in Japan watching,” he said.
“Hopefully in five, 10 years, when they get a little older, some of them will be competing on the world stage.
“But I still have a lot of years left, so they are going to have to compete against me still!”