Getty/Kevin Cox
- On Sunday, Hideki Matsuyama became the first ever Japanese man to win The Masters.
- While not a household name outside the world of golf, he is revered in his home country.
- So obsessed over is the 29-year-old that he previously hid being married with children from the media.
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Until Sunday, Hideki Matsuyama wasn't exactly a household name in much of the world. After his win at Augusta, that changed rapidly.
Matsuyama became the first Japanese man ever to win a major golf title on Sunday as he won The Masters, finishing the weekend at Augusta National 10 under par, one shot ahead of American debutant Will Zalatoris.
After claiming his first ever green jacket, Tiger Woods said Matsuyama's victory would change the landscape of golf as we know it.
"Making Japan proud Hideki," Woods, who missed the tournament due to injuries sustained in a car crash in February, said.
"Congratulations on such a huge accomplishment for you and your country. This historical The Masters win will impact the entire golf world."
While he was little known outside golfing circles in the US before last night, back home in Japan it is a totally different story.
At home so famous is the 29-year-old, that he previously hid that fact he was married with children from the media.
Matsuyama took up golf at an early age
Born in 1992 on the Japanese island of Shikoku, Matsuyama began playing golf as early as aged four, however it was during his time at boarding school and later university that his talent blossomed.
After winning the 2010 Asian Amateur Championship, Matsuyama competed as in the 2011 Masters before turning professional. There he finished as the leading amateur, winning the Silver Cup in the process.
He then turned pro in 2013, before a year later qualifying for the PGA Tour. He has since won six tournaments, including the 2014 Memorial Tournament, the 2017 WGC-Bridgestone Invitational, and, of course this year's Masters.
Getty/David Cannon
Such exploits on the golf course have not only made Matsuyama him over $33 million in prize money, but also a major celebrity in his home country.
"Back home, Matsuyama is obsessed over to the degree that he and his wife kept both their marriage and the birth of their child from the rabid Japanese media," wrote ESPN's Wright Thompson on Monday.
"Reporters write about every little thing, including, for instance, the weight Matsuyama has gained since moving to America. It's constant and oppressive but not a surprise.
"He carries an enormous burden as the best male Japanese golfer, because of the vital and complex importance the sport has carried in the country since the end of World War II."
Golf runs through the Matsuyama veins
In 2014, the same year Matsuyama turned pro, his father, Mikio, also made golf his career, buying the driving range at which his son used to practice as a child.
Mikio renamed the range the "Hideki Golf Garden."
"Since his childhood, he came here together with me," Mikio said at the time, as per ESPN. "Clutching his club, practicing every day, and receiving the warm encouragements of the people he met there.
"He grew up passing through this place, and it's not an exaggeration to say that this is a place that raised Hideki. And so, my gratitude alone isn't enough to repay the people who have warmly cheered on Hideki since he was a child.
"From now on, in order to live up to the feelings of those people, I'm renewing my determination to promote golf and the growth of junior golfing however I can."
After winning at Augusta on Sunday, Matsuyama paid homage to the next generation of golfers in Japan he is inspiring and his father is helping produce.
"It's thrilling to thing that there are a lot of youngsters in Japan watching today, and in five, ten years when they get a little older hopefully some of them will be competing on a world stage, but I still have a lot of years left so they're still going to have to compete against me," he said.
"But I'm happy for them and hopefully they'll be able to follow in my footsteps."