HIDEKI MATSUYAMA BAGS FIRST MAJOR TITLE AT THE MASTERS

Hideki Matsuyama became the first Japanese man to win a major golf championship on Sunday, holding his nerve down the stretch to capture the 85th Masters after a dramatic final round.

Carrying the hopes of a nation on his shoulders, Matsuyama calmly ground out clutch pars and struck for crucial birdies in a pressure-packed march at Augusta National, hanging on over the final holes for a historic one-stroke victory. Matsuyama took the green jacket symbolic of Masters supremacy, a top prize of US$2.07 million and a place for the ages in Japanese sports history.

After seeing his seven-stroke lead with seven holes remaining shaved to two shots with three to go, Matsuyama watched Xander Schauffele find water off the 16th tee on the way to a triple-bogey disaster. Matsuyama settled for bogey but closed with par at 17 and a bogey at 18 to fire a one-over-par 73 and finish 72 holes on 10-under 278.

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Matsuyama became the second Asian man to win a major title after South Korea's Yang Yong-eun at the 2009 PGA Championship. Ranked at 25th, he hadn't won since the 2017 WGC Akron tournament, but 87 starts later, he matched the victory from his only other 54-hole outright PGA lead, at the 2016 WGC Shanghai tournament.

The best prior majors by Japanese men were Isao Aoki's runner-up effort at the 1980 US Open and Matsuyama's share of second at the 2017 US Open. No prior Japanese player had finished better than fourth at the Masters.

The Masters 2021

1. H. Matsuyama (JPN) -10

2. W. Zalatoris (USA) -9

T3. X. Schauffele (USA) -7

T3. J. Spieth (USA) -7

T5. J. Rahm (ESP) -6

T5. M. Leishman (AUS) -6

7. J. Rose (ENG) -5

T8. C. Conners (CAN) -4

T8. P. Reed (USA) -4

T10. T. Finau (USA) -3

T10. C. Smith (AUS) -3

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