Hideki Matsuyama Wins the Masters With a Groundbreaking Performance

Matsuyama led the final round from start to finish at Augusta National, becoming the first Asian-born man to win the Masters.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Hideki Matsuyama’s first swing in the final round of the 85th Masters was an unsightly banana-shape slice that would have looked familiar on the nerve-racking first tee of any golf course in the world. Matsuyama, who entered Sunday’s fourth round with a four-shot lead, hunted down his wayward drive in the left woods and chose an intrepid course, smashing his ball from a bed of wispy pine straw through a slender gap between two trees. Matsuyama’s caddie, Shota Hayafuji, yelped, “Woo,” which elicited a toothy grin from the typically undemonstrative Matsuyama. Even though he bogeyed the first hole, the tone for his day was set.