April 13, 2021 08:20
Hideki Matsuyama won the 85th Masters in dramatic fashion Sunday, holding off Xander Schauffele to become the first Japanese man to capture a major golf title.
Carrying the hopes of a nation on his shoulders, Matsuyama calmly grinded out clutch pars and struck for crucial birdies in a pressure-packed march at Augusta National, hanging on over the final holes for a historic one-stroke victory.
Matsuyama took the green jacket symbolic of Masters supremacy, a top prize of $2.07 million and a place for the ages in Japanese sports history. I m really happy, he said through a translator. Hopefully I ll be a pioneer in this and many other Japanese will follow. I m happy to open the floodgate and many more will follow me.