Matsuyama lights blue touch paper on Japan’s defining year of sport
Success gives nation another icon alongside Osaka and lifts a pandemic-weary public ahead of Tokyo Games
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It may not have been the dramatic final round neutrals would have wished for, but in terms of wider impact, Hideki Matsuyama’s Masters win on Sunday night could be the most far-reaching golf has known for years.
As the first Japanese male to win one of the game’s four majors, the 29-year-old’s immediate prospects have changed for ever. That much is obvious.
Matsuyama awoke yesterday to messages from Yoshihide Suga, Japan’s prime minister, who called his win “wonderful” and a source of “pride and courage” for the Japanese people during the difficulties of the pandemic. And from fellow professionals, too, notably Tiger Woods, who predicted it would “impact the entire golf world”.
But as analysts made breathless predictions yesterday about the number of Asian golfers who might be inspired to follow in Matsuyama’s footsteps, or the amount of money he might or might not accrue from his win – ESPN’S Andy North estimated Matsuyama’s victory could be worth $1billion (£728million) to the player alone – it is worth considering the impact on Japan more generally.
This is a country which has suffered disproportionately from Covid-19. The world’s third-largest economy shrank by 4.8 per cent last year. The costly postponement of the Olympics has not helped the public mood, with recent opinion polls suggesting Japan’s public is not uniformly behind the Games.
The role of sport in turning things around could be significant. As Tim Crow, a sports marketing and sponsorship expert, wrote on Twitter yesterday: “That sound you can hear is every Japanese sponsor of Tokyo 2020 scrambling to get [Matsuyama’s] signature. Conga time for those such as Toyota, who already have him.”
Crow believes Matsuyama’s win could be transformative for a country which has traditionally looked inwardly in terms of its sport stars, with sumo and baseball the biggest draws. With Naomi Osaka currently the pre-eminent women’s tennis player in the world, Japan now has two bona fide global superstars to get behind. The timing of Matsuyama’s emergence, he argues, could not be better.
“There’s some serendipity in this, but some design as well,” Crow said. “Japan clearly decided a few years back to go after big [sporting] events. They had the Rugby World Cup, which was a huge success. Television audiences of 50 million-plus for a live game which was two or three times bigger than any rugby match in history. Then Covid struck, which has obviously had a huge negative impact. But the emergence of Osaka and Matsuyama could not be better timed.
“Obviously, Osaka is going to be the poster girl for Tokyo 2020 in the same way Jess Ennis was for London 2012 and Cathy Freeman was for Sydney 2000.
“Now Matsuyama has announced himself on the world stage, too. It’s massive because Japan has never really had stars who have strode onto the world stage in the way these two have.”
Rob Mills, director and chief executive of Tenka Group, agrees. “There’s a legacy aspect to this, too,” he said. “It’s a bit like Yao Ming when he went to the NBA. There probably won’t ever be a basketball player in China as big as Yao Ming
because he was the first one to do it. Matsuyama is the same.
“His impact on golf in Japan and Asia is going to be massive purely because of the size of the market. It’s going to be fascinating to watch. It will also be fascinating to watch how he handles it individually, because he has to feel comfortable putting himself out there.”
That may not be entirely straightforward, with Matsuyama clearly a bit of a reluctant star. His reply when asked how he would feel if he were given the honour of lighting the Olympic flame at the Tokyo opening ceremony in July – “I’m not sure about my schedule” – was priceless. But whether he likes it or not, a country is set to rally behind him.
Mills believes his win will be a huge boost to Japan’s Covid-weary public.
“This is a big shot in the arm,” he said. “It feels like a really nice window opening up for sport in that market. I think this will really help to energise the population around sport, and the joy of sport.”