Matsuyama first player from Japan to be in lead

Schauffele is Sunday playing partner who can speak language

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Japan has been sending golfers to the Masters since 1936, with about three dozen players combining for well over 100 appearances at Augusta National.

And none had ever finished a round atop the leaderboard. Until Saturday.

Hideki Matsuyama’s four-shot lead going into Sunday’s final round of the Masters is a breakthrough moment for Japan, which became the 17th nation to see one of its players hold a lead after any round at Augusta National.

The others, per the Masters: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Canada, England, Fiji, Germany, Italy, Mexico, Northern Ireland, Scotland, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, the United States, Wales and Zimbabwe.

It was 10 years ago when Matsuyama became the first Asia-Pacific Amateur champion to make the cut and be the low amateur at the Masters.

No language barrier

Xander Schauffele is from San Diego. Hideki Matsuyama is from Japan, and needs a translator to help with his interview sessions with English-speaking media.

That doesn’t mean Schauffele and Matsuyama can’t talk on the course.

They were paired in the third round on Saturday and Schauffele — whose grandparents lived in Japan — is familiar with the language.

“I know a little bit of Japanese,” Schauffele said. “I threw my few words in here and there. Just some proper words. Some bad ones, too.”

Horschel’s slide

Billy Horschel went into the water on the 13th hole. He also went onto his backside.

Horschel took a slip-and-slide trip to blooper-reel immortality in the third round at Augusta National, after playing his second shot on the par-5 13th into the water — a tributary of Rae’s Creek.

He removed his shoes and his socks, rolled up the legs of his white pants to his calves, surveyed the situation and then made his way barefoot down a slope toward the water. He slipped on the way, his feet going out from under him and he landed on his butt.

Horschel played his third out of the water to well above the hole, put his shoes and socks back on and two-putted for a par that was anything but routine.

Rain delay

Play was suspended because of severe weather in the area around 4 p.m. Saturday, and rain began to fall not long afterward.

The delay lasted 1 hour, 18 minutes.

Chip shots

For the third consecutive year, the Masters champion will take home $2.07 million. If someone finishes in sole possession of second place, he’ll receive $1.242 million — which would be the biggest prize in Masters history going to a non-winner. Third prize, if claimed outright, would be worth $782,000; fourth, $552,000 and fifth, $460,000. For the record, 50th place is still a nice check: $28,980. … Jon Rahm and Mackenzie Hughes have signed for the same score in each of the first three rounds at the Masters: 72 each day. They’ve got chances at a Masters rarity. Only four players in Masters history — Walter Hagen in 1939, Lew Worsham in 1954, Kenny Knox in 1987 and George Archer in 1989 — shot the same score in all four rounds of the tournament. Hagen had four 76s, Worsham four 74s, Knox and Archer four 75s.