He shares a trait that can’t be coached

Masters champion Matsuyama isn't a flash in the pan

No one has ever had a complete golf game all of the time. If they did, they would consistently birdie every hole and shoot scores in the mid-50s. While it’s true that linksters such as Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Ben Hogan dominated golf in their eras, it’s also true that there were glitches in the totality of their games. Nicklaus was not a great wedge player. There were times when Tiger couldn’t find the short grass when he was teeing off. Hogan always had a lovehate affair with his putter. Yet when Jack was in the process of winning 18 major championships, his wedge game was rock-solid.

When Tiger was on a roll while collecting grand slam titles, his driver was long as well as accurate. On the occasions when Hogan won his nine major titles, he was playing subpar golf and putting as well as anyone in the field.

Like other great professional athletes, the aforementioned threesome was gifted. Their individual struggles with wedges, the driver and the putter were still far superior to the skills put forth by a scratch amateur golfer. It’s just a fact that sometimes they had issues. All three were great iron players, so oftentimes they hit it so close to the flagstick they didn’t need to worry about drivers or wedges or even putters.

Last weekend in Hawaii, the 174th-ranked putter on the PGA Tour channeled his inner Ben Crenshaw, made up a five-shot deficit during the course of the final nine holes, hit a brilliant 275-yard 3-wood in overtime to within 3 feet for eagle, and won his third professional title in the past nine months. When all the ShotLink stat folks had crunched the numbers for the four days of play, Hideki Matsuyama was not only the champion of the 2022 Hawaiian Open, but he was also ranked No. 1 in shots gained putting for the week. While his putting statistics don’t always look all that impressive and there have been occasions like the 2017 United States Open at Erin Hills where quality putting may have improved his ultimate runner-up finish, one doesn’t win the Masters at Augusta National, the Zozo Championship, and now the Hawaiian Open with poor putting.

Hideki Matsuyama was born in Japan in 1992 and started playing golf with his father when he was a 4-year-old. He immediately took to the game and attended a junior high and high school that was the most positive environment for developing young and aspiring golfers in Japan. He played on the golf team at Tohaku Fukushi University.

In 2010 as an 18-year-old, Hideki shot four rounds in the 60s and won the Asian Pacific Amateur. Winning the Asian Pacific is a big deal because it is not only one of the top amateur tourneys in the world, but because the winner automatically gets an invite alongside the U.S. Amateur and the British Amateur champions into the following year’s Masters. Hideki made the cut at the 2011 Masters, received the silver cup for finishing as low amateur, and finished in a tie for 27th place. He returned to Japan the following week and finished in third place in the Japan Open, a long-running tournament of note on the Japan Golf Tour. Later that year, Hideki won the gold medal as the titlist of the World University Games while leading Japan to the overall team title. He punched his ticket to a return trip to Augusta National when he defended his title at the Asian Pacific Amateur. In November of that year, he won the Taiheiyo Masters on the Japan Tour as an amateur.

The 2012 season was more of the same as Hideki made the cut at the Masters. He also won a second consecutive Japan Collegiate Championship. By mid2012, Hideki was the No. 1-ranked amateur in the world. As 2013

dawned, the 20-year-old had very little more to prove in the world of amateur golf. He turned professional and became a regular on the Japan Tour.

It didn’t take long for Matsuyama to win his first professional event. In April of 2013 he won the Tsuruya Open, beating American David Oh by one stroke. He would win three more times in Japan in 2013, including a victory in the prestigious Casio World Open. He was the first rookie in the history of the Japan Tour to win the money title. Hideki also played in the British Open that summer and finished in a tie for sixth place. He had five other top-25 finishes on the American PGA Tour that summer and made enough money to finish on the top125 exempt list.

Matsuyama wasted little time in making an impact in America. He won the Memorial Tournament in May of 2014, beating Kevin Na in a sudden-death playoff. He would also win again later that December at the Dunlop Phoenix in Japan. By the end of the year, the 22-year-old was the 13th-ranked golfer in the world. He made

20 or 24 cuts on the PGA Tour, banked $2.8 million in earnings, made it to the Tour Championship, and finished 27th on the money list.

From that point on Hideki Matsuyama was one of the world’s top golfers. During the course of the next five years he would win the Phoenix Open twice as well as win a pair of World Golf Championships. He would finish fourth on the PGA Tour’s money list in 2017 while adding $8.3 million to his bank account. The COVID pandemic put a damper in some of his travel plans, but he came back strong in 2021 with a decisive onestroke win over Will Zalatoris in the Masters. Hideki became the first Japanese golfer to win a major title. While there have always been whispers about his putting struggles, the very fact that he won the Masters on arguably the toughest greens in professional golf points to the fact that when he putts decently, he can win. His ballstriking prowess is definitely his strong point, and yet while he is 17th on tour in hitting greens in regulation and 16th in shots gained tee to green, he is also the 17th best scrambler on tour.

This past week while taking home the trophy at the Hawaiian Open, Hideki put a new Scotty Cameron Timeless Newport 2GSS putter into his golf bag. It obviously fit his eye as he made a pair of long putts on the final nine to catch Russell Henley. Yet something tells me that Matsuyama just didn’t have a miracle week with the flat stick. He has the totality of a golf game to consistently make cuts and climb leader boards. He plays well at tough courses. Finally, he is just a 29-yearold with a lot more career ahead of him. I think it’s safe to say that Japan’s first major winner will also be its first multiple major champion.