Hideki Matsuyama is arguably the greatest Asian male golfer ever to grace the game, but he is a quiet and polite character who many people still don't know too much about. Here are 18 things you might not know about him.
Hideki Matsuyama Facts
1. Coincidentally, Hideki was born in a place called Matsuyama, which is in Ehime, Japan. His birthday is February 25, 1992.
2. He learned to play golf from the age of four because of his father, Mikio, who was a former club champion.
3. During eighth grade (year nine), Matsuyama changed schools in search of a better golf environment.
4. Matsuyama studied at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai, Japan when the city was devastated by an earthquake and tsunami in March 2011. Matsuyama was over in Australia training at the time, but returned to find his dorm room destroyed and struggled to find food for a while. A matter of weeks later, he made his debut at The Masters.
5. Matsuyama became the first Japanese amateur to qualify for The Masters with victory at the 2010 Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship, which took place at the 2020 Olympic Games host course, Kasumigaseki Country Club.
6. He won the Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship again in 2011, becoming the only player to date to win it twice in a row.
7. At the 2011 Masters tournament, Matsuyama won the Silver Cup which is presented to the leading amateur who makes the cut at Augusta National.
8. Matsuyama became the world's number one male amateur in June 2012. He held the ranking for one week.
9. Matsuyama turned pro in 2013, just a couple of months after turning 20 years old.
10. His favourite player growing up was Tiger Woods and he distinctly remembers watching Tiger win the 1997 Masters tournament.
11. In his spare time, MAtsuyama likes to fish, watch baseball and play table-tennis.
12. He has 10 PGA Tour wins, two of which came at the Waste Management Phoenix Open, and two of which were WGCs. His first arrived at the 2014 Memorial Tournament after a play-off victory over Kevin Na. The biggest was his win at the 2021 Masters.
13. On his way to a ninth PGA Tour victory, Matsuyama came from six strokes back before the final round began to win the 2024 Genesis Invitational. He shot the second lowest round ever at Riviera Country Club (62).
14. His highest world ranking is second, and that arrived in the summer of 2017.
15. He is a five-time Presidents Cup competitor - 2013, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2022.
16. Matsuyama's career earnings on the PGA Tour have surpassed $55 million.
17. Matsuyama's wife is called Mei and the pair have a daughter called Kanna who was born in July 2017.
18. He received the Prime Minister's Award in Japan following his 2021 Masters win. He was the first player from Japan to win the Masters Tournament.
Hideki Matsuyama Bio
Hideki Matsuyama Wins
*won as an amateur
