Hideki Matsuyama: A Look Inside His Rapid Rise on the PGA TOUR

Mandatory Credit: Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports /

Hideki Matsuyama won big in Phoenix, kick-starting what figures to be another strong season.

Hideki Matsuyama may not be standing on the outside looking in any more. With Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Jason Day occupying the top three spots in the world rankings, the rise of golf’s new Big Three has been well-documented. Throw in Rickie Fowler, who’s seen plenty of success in the majors, and you can make the case that it’s a Big Four. Now, after last Sunday’s Waste Management Phoenix Open, we might have to start talking about a Big Five.

At the event, the PGA Tour’s best-attended, Hideki Matsuyama defeated Fowler in a thrilling sudden death playoff, good for his second PGA Tour victory. Standing on the 17th tee with a two-stroke lead, Fowler attempted to take advantage of the drivable par 4 but ended up overshooting the green, and his ball found the drink. Matsuyama seized the opportunity and made birdie, resulting in a two-shot swing. Both birdied the last, and on the fourth playoff hole, the 23-year-old from Japan made par to take the trophy. With the victory, he moved to No. 12 in the world.

The Phoenix win was Matsuyama’s second PGA Tour title, coming 20 months after his first at the 2014 Memorial Tournament. That’s impressive, but there are plenty of talented young players who have just as many if not more PGA Tour victories–Billy Horschel, Harris English and Russell Henley all spring readily to mind. What sets Matsuyama apart from the crowd?

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For one thing, he’s been a prolific winner overseas, starting with a sterling amateur career. Matsuyama won the 2010 Asia-Pacific Amateur at the tender age of 18, and he did it again the following year to become the only two-time winner in the event’s history. He also won back-to-back Japan Collegiate Championships in 2011 and 2012. In 2011, Matsuyama, still an amateur, took a big step forward by winning the Japan Golf Tour’s Mitsui Sumitomo Visa Taiheiyo Masters. In other words, he’s long been the next big thing in Japanese golf.

Upon turning professional and playing the tour with more regularity, Matsuyama quickly found success. After reeling off four top 10s (including a pair of runner-up finishes) towards the end of 2012, he seemed to be progressing nicely, but it was nothing compared to what he would do in 2013. That season was his coming-out party; he won four events in Japan and rose all the way to No. 23 in the world by the end of the year.

Of course, very rarely does a player crack the world’s top 25 on the strength of Japanese wins alone. 2013 was also the year in which Matsuyama established himself as a force in the majors, helping him to stand out from the ever-growing crop of talented youngsters. He arrived at Merion for the U.S. Open with little name recognition among American fans but made a splash by tying for 10th. The finish generated a lot of buzz about his potential, and he performed even better at Muirfield for the Open Championship, tying for sixth. A tie for 19th at the PGA Championship capped a strong major season for Matsuyama, one that established him as one of the sport’s true up-and-comers.

Despite making just seven PGA Tour starts, Matsuyama’s 2013 season was good enough to earn a card, and since then, he’s been one of the circuit’s most productive players. He won the Memorial Tournament in his first full season as a member, with host Jack Nicklaus remarking that fans had “just seen the start of what’s going to be truly one of the world’s great players.” His 2015 season was winless, but he did manage seven top 10s and a remarkable 16 top 25s–he played well for almost the entire year but just couldn’t get over the edge. A solo fifth at the Masters, his best major performance to date, was a nice consolation.

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Last Sunday in Arizona, Matsuyama made an emphatic return to the winner’s circle. He did it by battling back from two down with two to play, and he ended up taking down the No. 4 player in the world. People in Japan have known that this was a long time coming, but American fans are just starting to realize: yes, Hideki Matsuyama is that good.

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