Celebrating 10 years of Matsuyama magic

Brian Harman, the reigning Open champion, tells a funny tale of how he and fellow PGA Tour winner Matt Every made a poor error in judgement on a young Asian golfer more than a decade ago. In contrast, Jack Nicklaus, holder of a record 18 major victories, knew the golf world was in for a special treat with the emergence of a rising star.

Paired together in the opening two rounds of the 2012 Sony Open in Hawaii alongside one of several Japanese sponsor exemptions that week, Harman’s first impression was similar to Every’s thoughts —“Don’t think this kid’s got it.”

“So we're playing with this kid, and there are photographers all over the place. He dribbled a couple off the tee boxes and Matt and I made the comment, don't think this kid's got it. He's like nervous beyond all belief. Missed the cut. Didn't play good at all. Don't think this guy is gonna make it … Hideki Matsuyama,” said Harman.

Yup, the very same Hideki Matsuyama, who is now Asia’s winningest golfer on the PGA Tour with nine career victories to date — four more than Harman and Every combined — and a proud owner of a green jacket following an historic triumph at the 2021 Masters Tournament. “So Matt and I would joke about that. Yeah, we missed on that one,” Harman laughed.

This week marks Matsuyama’s 10th anniversary of his maiden PGA Tour victory at The Memorial Tournament presented by Workday in 2014, an event hosted by golf legend Jack Nicklaus. The octogenarian remembers vividly Matsuyama’s glorious march to victory at Muirfield Village via a playoff and liked what he saw.

“When he won, I said, he's going to win a lot of golf tournaments,” said Nicklaus. “He was a good player before he got here, obviously, or he wouldn't have been here,” added the 84-year-old on Matsuyama, who was a two-time Asia-Pacific Amateur champion before turning professional.

During his prime, Nicklaus, winner of 73 PGA Tour victories, battled against Japanese top golfers including Isao Aoki, Jumbo Ozaki and Naomichi “Joe” Ozaki but rates Matsuyama as the “best of the bunch.” He marvels especially at how Matsuyama has established himself in the US despite challenges with the language barrier, along with food and cultural