30 Awe-Inspiring Facts About Hideki Matsuyama You Might Have Missed Before

Hideki Matsuyama, one of the best golfers in the world, has 16 worldwide wins, eight career top-10 finishes in major championships, and four Presidents Cup appearances. He has attained the highest rank of second in the Official World Golf Rankings for men for the first time in June 2017. Here are some really interesting facts about the golfer that will blow your mind away:

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1.  Matsuyama is the first-ever Japanese professional golfer to win a men's major golf championship – The 2021 Masters Tournament.
2.  With seven wins on the PGA Tour, Hideki became the most successful Japanese member of the PGA Tour in history.
3.  He is the first Asian golfer to claim a World Golf Championship, since the WGC-HSBC Champions series was inaugurated in 1999.
4.  At the 2017 U.S. Open at Erin Hills, he finished second, while the top three players in the world at that time failed to make the cut.
5.  With this victory, he reached the 2nd position in the Official World Golf Ranking, his highest ever, and the highest ever for a male Japanese golfer.
6.  Hideki Matsuyama was born on February 25, 1992 to Mikio Matsuyama in Matsuyama, Ehime, Japan. Both of his parents are Japanese.
7.  His father introduced him to golf at the very young age of four, and started coaching him personally.
8.  He attended Meitoku Gijuku Junior & Senior High School in Kochi Prefecture, from eighth grade, for a better golf environment. After graduation, he studied at Tohoku Fukushi University in Sendai.
9.  He won the 2010 Asian Amateur Championship with a score of 68-69-65-67=269, earning the chance to compete as an amateur in the 2011 Masters Tournament.
10.  With this, he became the first Japanese amateur to participate in the Masters. He was the leading amateur and won the Silver Cup, presented to the lowest scoring amateur.


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11.  At the 2011 Japan Open Golf Championship, an event on the Japan Golf Tour, he finished in a tie for third.
12.  He won the gold medal at the 2011 World University Games, and also led the Japan team to the gold medal in the team event.
13.  In August 2012, Matsuyama reached number one in the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Following this, he turned professional in April 2013.
14.  He won his fifth Japan Golf Tour event in December at the 2013 Casio World Open, becoming the first rookie to lead the Japan Tour’s money list.
15.  During the 2014 PGA Tour, in just seven PGA Tour-sanctioned events, Matsuyama had six top-25 finishes, including a T-6 at the 2013 Open Championship.
16.  He earned his first PGA Tour win at the 2014 Memorial Tournament, moving to a career-high OWGR ranking of 13th. This victory was the first for a Japanese player since Ryuji Imada in 2008.
17.  In 8–11 October, 2015, he played for the International Team in the 2015 Presidents Cup and went 2–1–1 (win–loss–half).
18.  He won the Waste Management Phoenix Open in a playoff with Rickie Fowler on February 7, 2016, following which he moved to the 12th rank in the Official World Golf Ranking.
19.  He captured the Japan Open by three strokes over Yuta Ikeda and Lee Kyoung-hoon on October 16, 2016, winning his first title at his country's national open and his seventh victory in Japan.
20.  Following his Japan Open triumph, he won the WGC-HSBC Champions, colloquially known as "Asia's Major", in Shanghai, on October 30, 2016.


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21.  Despite being the highest ranked male Japanese golfer, he withdrew from the 2016 Rio Olympic Games, due to concerns over the 2016 Zika virus epidemic.
22.  The 2017 season was a breakthrough year for Matsuyama, as he won three Tour titles, including his first World Golf Championship.
23.  He even finished in second place three times, in his first 15 events, as well as winning $5,945,990, making him second on the money list behind Dustin Johnson, before the month of July.
24.  He won the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational in August 2017, shooting a course record-tying 61 in the final round to win by five strokes.
25.  At the end of the Masters Tournament, his caddie, Shota Hayafuji, bowed to the 18th fairway of the Augusta course as a gesture of Japanese respect
26.  In December 2019, Matsuyama played on the International team at the 2019 Presidents Cup at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia, in which he went 2–1–1 and halved his Sunday singles match against Tony Finau.
27.  He married his girlfriend Mei Matsuyama in January 2017. The couple welcomed their daughter Kanna in July 2017.
28.  He finished in a tie for 3rd place at the Olympic Games in August 2021, in which he lost in a 7-man playoff for the bronze medal.
29.  He tied for the lead after 72 holes at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, where he was beaten in the playoff when Abraham Ancer birdied the second extra hole.
30.  Matsuyama won the Zozo Championship at Narashino Country Club in October 2021, in which he won by five strokes over Cameron Tringale and Brendan Steele.
31.  Hideki Matsuyama Net Worth: $35 Million