Rain can be disastrous for some, can be fortuitous for some. Hideki Matsuyama found himself on the other side when the play resumed after the rain delay on Saturday. He went 11 under from 5 under and finished the day sitting good 4 shots off the lead heading into Sunday’s momentous final.
The start on Sunday was not great for the Japanese star as
he dropped a shot bogeying the first hole but that did not deter his confidence
as he came back on second to regain the dropped shot despite hitting his
approach shot into the bunker.
He played superb golf from start to finish. He swung well and
putted well. He got lucky on few occasions, but he put himself into great position
to make birdies. Things got little heated on back 9 as he had couple of bogeys
and Xander Schauffele made 4 birdies on the trot to reduce the lead by 2 and
still 3 holes to play. Anything could have happened but triple bogey for Xander
at 16 made thing easy for Hideki.
Nobody had expected him to be at the top of the leaderboard when
the tournament began as there were no top 10 finishes for him recently plus English
media hardly recognizes efforts from Asian players.
By this win, Hideki Matsuyama becomes first Japanese male
player to win the masters tournament and only the second Asian player to win
the major. He had previously won low amateur trophy at the Augusta national 10
years ago.
Hideki is already a star and followed by media religiously
there in Japan and hope this win inspires other Asian players to dream big and put
their names on the top in the major tournaments.
As Hideki Matsuyama sinks his last putt, celebration in Japan begins! Enjoy your Sunday drink with this master win while Hideki stops his club on his backswing! :)
