Japan’s Matsuyama chases historic Masters triumph

AUGUSTA, United States: Hideki Matsuyama, trying to become the first Japanese man to win a major golf title, held a four-stroke lead as Sunday’s dramatic final round of the 85th Masters began.

Matsuyama stood on 11-under 205 after 54 holes at Augusta National, seizing command with a Masters career-low seven-under par 65 on Saturday, the only bogey-free round of the event.

England’s Justin Rose, Australian Marc Leishman and Americans Xander Schauffele and Will Zalatoris shared second on 209 with Canada’s Corey Conners on 210 and three-time major winner Jordan Spieth seventh on 211.

Japan’s Chako Higuchi won the 1977 LPGA Championship and Hinako Shibuno won the 2019 Women’s British Open but the nearest Japanese men have come to a major win was Isao Aoki’s runner-up effort at the 1980 US Open and Matsuyama’s share of second at the 2017 US Open.

“All I can do is prepare well, try my best, and do the best that I can,” Matsuyama said through a translator.

The only Asian man to win a major title was South Korea’s Yang Yong-eun at the 2009 PGA Championship.

World number 25 Matsuyama hasn’t won since the 2017 WGC Akron tournament, but 87 starts later, he will try to match the triumph from his only other 54-hole outright US PGA lead, at WGC Shanghai in 2016.

Matsuyama’s lead was the same margin as 2020 winner Dustin Johnson enjoyed entering last year’s final round, but also the same size as the lead Rose took after Thursday’s opening round only to squander it.

Of the last 30 Masters champions, 25 of them came from the final Sunday pairing, which sees Matsuyama and sixth-ranked Schauffele tee off at 2:40 p.m. (1840 GMT). The two were playing partners on Saturday as well.

Schauffele has had eight runner-up finishes since last winning in January 2019 at the US PGA Tournament of Champions, including a share of second behind Tiger Woods at the 2019 Masters.

Rose, the 2013 US Open champion and a two-time Masters runner-up, is trying to become only the third Englishman to capture the green jacket after three-time winner Nick Faldo and Danny Willett in 2016.