Hideki Matsuyama becomes first Asian-born WGC winner

Hideki Matsuyama set a major milestone for Japenese and, more broadly, Asian golf on Sunday in winning the World Golf Championships HSBC Champions in China.

Matsuyama, who won the event by seven shots at 23-under 265 at Sheshan International in Shanghai, became the first Japanese-born and Asian-born player to win an individual-based WGC, which has been in existence since 1999. (Toshimitsu Izawa and Shigeki Maruyama won the World Cup of Golf in 2002 when it was played under the WGC banner.) Considering that Y.E. Yang is the only Asian-born player to win a men’s major and no Asian-born player has won The Players, this is a huge accomplishment.

The two-time Asia Pacific Amateur champion said he hopes the win will spur on more people to take up golf in Japan, where the sport is languishing.

“It’s a great victory for me and hopefully this will be a good victory and a great victory for Japan and encourage others to play golf,” he said.

Matsuyama also recognized that he’s just one player in a broader group of Asian male pros who are making their mark in the sport. Byeong-hun An won the European Tour’s flagship event, the BMW PGA Championship, two years ago. Yang’s major win was in 2009. And, as Matsuyama recognizes, China is yet to put its stamp on the men’s game.

“Chinese golf has a bright future,” he said. “It won’t be very long until there is going to be a Chinese player that will compete for a major title.”

In part, the win speaks to Tiger Woods’ dominance of the series. He’s won 18 WGCs in his career. Australia, as a continent, has eight WGC titles. England can claim five WGC wins, South Africa has four and Northern Ireland has three. Asia is finally on the board.

And yet, despite the broader significance, this feels like just the start for Matsuyama, who, to this point, has lagged behind his more prolific peers in this generation of PGA Tour player. Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Jason Day all have major wins. Other sub-30 players have seen more success on the PGA Tour. It’s clear now that 2016 is a breakthrough year for Matsuyama, who posted his best major finish at the PGA Championship in July, finishing tied for fourth place. He played great through the FedEx Cup playoffs, and now he’s broken through for a third PGA Tour win after winning in Phoenix earlier in the year. The 24-year-old can see where this might be heading for him in 2017.

“Winning today, I feel has got me closer to being able to compete a lot better in the major tournaments,” he said, “and so my next goal is, of course, to win a major, and I’m going to do all that I can to prepare well for that.”

Devil Ball Golf – Golf – Yahoo Sports

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