Hideki Matsuyama finds the flat stick, share of The Players lead

If you don’t know the name Hideki Matsuyama, you may become very familiar with it this week at The Players.

Matsuyama, the 23-year-old who won the Memorial last year, shares the Day 1 lead at TPC Sawgrass with Kevin Na, Charley Hoffman and David Hearn, who each shot 5-under 67.

The young Japanese star has become a staple on PGA Tour leaderboards this season, leading the Tour with seven top-10 finishes. He finished T-5 at the Masters and lost last week at the WGC-Match Play to eventual winner Rory McIlroy.

However, Matsuyama hasn’t been able to convert contending into winning primarily because of putting. He’s 114th on the Tour in strokes gained putting. That wasn’t a problem on Thursday.

“I putted very well today. That was the difference,” Matsuyama said through a translator. “Probably starting from last week I started putting a little bit better, and it just carried over into today. I was very happy about that.”

Matsuyama flies under the radar compared to his peers like Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth. However, the world No. 14 said — even with a win this week — that he has a ways to go to be mentioned in the same breath as them.

“I’m not even close to those guys, Rory and Jordan,” he said. “I just need to practice more and hopefully soon I’ll be able to play at the same level that they do.”

Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.

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