Hideki Matsuyama

Hideki Matsuyama
松山 英樹
— Golfer —
Personal information
Born (1992-02-25) 25 February 1992
Ehime, Japan
Height 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight 82 kg (181 lb; 12.9 st)
Nationality  Japan
Career
College Tohoku Fukushi University
Turned professional 2013
Current tour(s) Japan Golf Tour
PGA Tour
Professional wins 12
Number of wins by tour
PGA Tour 3
European Tour 1
Japan Golf Tour 8
Other 1
Best results in major championships
Masters Tournament 5th: 2015
U.S. Open T10: 2013
The Open Championship T6: 2013
PGA Championship T4: 2016
Achievements and awards
Japan Golf Tour
leading money winner		 2013

Hideki Matsuyama (松山 英樹 Matsuyama Hideki, born 25 February 1992) is a Japanese professional golfer. He won the Asian Amateur Championship in 2010 and 2011. He is a three-time PGA Tour winner, and a eight-time Japan Golf Tour winner.

Early life and amateur career

Matsuyama was born in Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan. He was introduced to golf at the age of four, by his father. During his eighth grade, he transferred to Meitoku Gijuku Junior & Senior High School in Kochi Prefecture, in search for a better golf environment.

He has studied, since 2010, at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai. He won the 2010 Asian Amateur Championship with a score of 68-69-65-67=269.[1] This gave him the chance to compete as an amateur in the 2011 Masters Tournament, becoming the first Japanese amateur to do so. At the Masters, Matsuyama was the leading amateur and won the Silver Cup, which is presented to the lowest scoring amateur.[2] He was the only amateur to make the cut.[3] A week after his victory, he finished in a tie for third at the Japan Open Golf Championship which is an event on the Japan Golf Tour.

In 2011, Matsuyama won the gold medal at the 2011 World University Games. He also led the Japan team to the gold medal in the team event. In October 2011, he successfully defended his title at the Asian Amateur Championship.[4] In November, Matsuyama won the Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters on the Japan Golf Tour while still an amateur.[5]

In August 2012, Matsuyama reached number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking.[6]

Professional career

2013

Matsuyama turned professional in April 2013 and won his second professional tournament, the 2013 Tsuruya Open on the Japan Golf Tour. Five weeks later, Matsuyama won his third title on the Japan Golf Tour at the Diamond Cup Golf tournament. Following a top 10 finish at the 2013 U.S. Open, Matsuyama entered the top 50 of the Official World Golf Ranking. He won his fourth Japan Golf Tour event in September at the Fujisankei Classic. Matsuyama would win his fifth Japan Golf Tour event in December at the Casio World Open. The win also made Matsuyama the first rookie to lead the Japan Tour's money list.

2014

For 2014, Matsuyama qualified for the PGA Tour through non-member earnings. In just seven PGA Tour-sanctioned events, Matsuyama had six top-25 finishes, including a T-6 at the 2013 Open Championship.

Matsuyama earned his first PGA Tour win at the 2014 Memorial Tournament, beating Kevin Na in a playoff and moving to a career-high OWGR ranking of 13th. The win was the first for a Japanese player since Ryuji Imada in 2008. In his first full season as a PGA tour member, he finished 28th in the FedEx Cup standings.[7]

Matsuyama would win his sixth Japan Golf Tour event late in the 2014 season. In November, the victory came at the Dunlop Phoenix in a playoff over Hiroshi Iwata.

2015

Matsuyama finished fifth at the 2015 Masters Tournament, the best major finish of his career.[8] He finished 16th in the FedEx Cup standings. In 8–11 October, he played for the International Team in the 2015 Presidents Cup and went 2–1–1 (win–loss–half).

2016

On 7 February 2016, Matsuyama won the Waste Management Phoenix Open in a playoff with Rickie Fowler. He secured his victory on the fourth hole.[9] The win moved him to 12th in the Official World Golf Ranking, the highest in his career.

On 16 October 2016, Matsuyama captured the Japan Open by three strokes over Yuta Ikeda and Lee Kyoung-hoon. The win was Matsuyama's first title at his country's national open and his seventh victory in Japan. The title gives Matsuyama victories in four of the Japan Golf Tour's five ￥200,000,000 events.[10]

On 30 October 2016, Matsuyama followed up his Japan Open triumph by winning the WGC-HSBC Champions, colloquially known as "Asia's Major", in Shanghai. Matsuyama became the first Asian golfer to claim a World Golf Championship since the series was inaugurated in 1999. With the victory, Matsuyama rose to number 6 in the Official World Golf Ranking, his highest position and the second highest ever by a Japanese player after Masashi Ozaki, who achieved a ranking of fifth.[11]

On 13 November 2016, Matsuyama won his second Taiheiyo Masters, following his victory as a 19-year-old amateur in 2011. He romped to a seven-shot win over South Korea's Song Young-han.[11]

Amateur wins (5)

Professional wins (12)

PGA Tour wins (3)

Legend
World Golf Championships (1)
Other PGA Tour events (2)
No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 1 Jun 2014 Memorial Tournament −13 (70-67-69-69=275) Playoff United States Kevin Na
2 7 Feb 2016 Waste Management Phoenix Open −14 (65-70-68-67=270) Playoff United States Rickie Fowler
3 30 Oct 2016 WGC-HSBC Champions −23 (66-65-68-66=265) 7 strokes United States Daniel Berger, Sweden Henrik Stenson

PGA Tour playoff record (2–0)

No.YearTournamentOpponentResult
1 2014 Memorial Tournament United States Kevin Na Won with par on first extra hole
2 2016 Waste Management Phoenix Open United States Rickie Fowler Won with par on fourth extra hole

Japan Golf Tour wins (8)

No. Date Tournament Winning score Margin of
victory		 Runner(s)-up
1 13 Nov 2011 Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters
(as an amateur)		 −13 (71-64-68=203) 2 strokes Japan Toru Taniguchi
2 28 Apr 2013 Tsuruya Open −18 (69-63-68-66=266) 1 stroke United States David Oh
3 2 Jun 2013 Diamond Cup Golf −9 (71-69-68-71=279) 2 strokes Australia Brendan Jones, South Korea Park Sung-joon, South Korea Kim Hyung-sung
4 8 Sep 2013 Fujisankei Classic −9 (66-70-66-73=275) Playoff South Korea Park Sung-joon, Japan Hideto Tanihara
5 1 Dec 2013 Casio World Open −12 (72-66-68-70=276) 1 stroke Japan Yuta Ikeda
6 23 Nov 2014 Dunlop Phoenix −15 (68-64-67-70=269) Playoff Japan Hiroshi Iwata
7 16 Oct 2016 Japan Open Golf Championship −5 (71-70-65-69=275) 3 strokes Japan Yuta Ikeda, South Korea Lee Kyoung-hoon
8 13 Nov 2016 Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters (2) −23 (65-66-65-69=265) 7 strokes South Korea Song Young-han

Other wins (1)

Results in major championships

Tournament 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016
Masters Tournament T27LA T54 DNP CUT 5 T7
U.S. Open DNP DNP T10 T35 T18 CUT
The Open Championship DNP DNP T6 T39 T18 CUT
PGA Championship DNP DNP T19 T35 T37 T4

LA = Low amateur
DNP = Did not play
CUT = missed the half-way cut
"T" indicates a tie for a place
Yellow background for top-10.

Summary

Tournament Wins 2nd 3rd Top-5 Top-10 Top-25 Events Cuts made
Masters Tournament 0 0 0 1 2 2 5 4
U.S. Open 0 0 0 0 1 2 4 3
The Open Championship 0 0 0 0 1 2 4 3
PGA Championship 0 0 0 1 1 2 4 4
Totals 0 0 0 2 5 8 17 14

Results in World Golf Championships

Results not in chronological order prior to 2015.

Tournament2013201420152016
Cadillac Championship DNP T34 T23 T35
Dell Match Play DNP R32 R16 T18
Bridgestone Invitational T21 T12 T37 T42
HSBC Champions WD T41 WD 1

Team appearances

Amateur

Professional

References

  1. ↑ "Hideki Matsuyama wins spot in Masters". ESPN. Associated Press. 10 October 2010.
  2. ↑ Brown, Oliver (11 April 2011). "The Masters 2011 diary: Hideki Matsuyama's tough decision is rewarded". The Telegraph.
  3. ↑ Steinbreder, John (10 April 2011). "Matsuyama Gains Priceless Memories". Masters. Archived from the original on 11 April 2011.
  4. ↑ "Hideki Matsuyama wins Asian Amateur". ESPN. Associated Press. 2 October 2011.
  5. ↑ Young, Bruce (14 November 2011). "Amateur star Matsuyama wins in Japan". iseekgolf.com.
  6. ↑ "All change at the top as Matsuyama moves into top spot". World Amateur Golf Ranking. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  7. ↑ "FedExCup – Official Standing". PGA Tour. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  8. ↑ "Masters 2015: Jordan Spieth wins first major with dominant display". BBC Sport. 13 April 2015. Retrieved 13 April 2015.
  9. ↑ Nicholson, John (7 February 2016). "Hideki Matsuyama beats Rickie Fowler in playoff at Phoenix Open". PGA of America. Associated Press. Retrieved 9 February 2016.
  10. ↑ "Japan Open Golf Championship 2016 Leaderboard". Japan Golf Tour. 16 October 2016. Retrieved 16 October 2016.
  11. 1 2 "Matsuyama Wins Taiheiyo Masters, His Third Win in Four Weeks". Yahoo. 13 November 2016. Retrieved 13 November 2016.

External links

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