Matsuyama nears goal of Tour’s top Asian player
HONOLULU — Not long after Hideki Matsuyama delivered the best shot he never saw to cap off his improbable comeback in the Sony Open, his phone buzzed with a text from Shigeki Maruyama to remind him of a conversation long ago.
Maruyama, a three-time PGA Tour winner who once went 5-0 in the Presidents Cup, always talked to his protégé about becoming the most prolific PGA Tour winner of all Asian players.
“That was always the goal,” Matsuyama said through his interpreter, the winner’s lei still draped around his neck.
His playoff victory Sunday afternoon over Russell Henley was the
eighth of his career, tying him with K.J. Choi of South Korea.
One more to go. Matsuyama smiled when he heard that, no translation necessary.
The 29-year-old Japanese star has put together an impressive collection of titles in his eight years on the PGA Tour. That starts with his Masters green jacket he won in April. Add a pair of World Golf Championships and victories against strong fields in the Phoenix Open (twice), the Memorial and the Zozo Championship outside of Tokyo.
What made the recordtying win at Waialae so impressive was how he rallied from a five-shot deficit with nine holes to play on a course that’s suited to low scoring.
Henley looked like a winner all the way. He capped off the front nine by making a 10-foot par putt to stay one shot ahead, three straight birdies and then a 4-iron to 3 feet for eagle. His lead suddenly was five shots after Matsuyama failed to birdie the par-5 ninth with a three-putt.
“Russell was playing so beautifully the front nine. But at the turn I was thinking, ‘He can’t keep this up, can he?’ ” Matsuyama said. “I was five back, but I just put my head down.”
Indeed, Henley didn’t keep up his pace. He didn’t make a birdie the rest of the day, and there was a pivotal two-shot swing on the par-3 11th, when Matsuyama holed a 12-foot birdie putt and Henley went left into a bunker and made bogey.
His lead was down to two shots, and Matsuyama inched closer with another 20-foot birdie putt on the 15th that led to the big finish.
Keita Nakajima, the No. 1 amateur in the world, was so wide-eyed when he saw the ball land near 18th hole that he rubbed his arm as if he had goosebumps. That’s why Nakajima referred to Matsuyama earlier in the week as “a superstar in Japan.”
Now, he’s at the top of the list of Asian-born players winning on the PGA Tour, looking as though many more trophies will follow.