Former Asian phenom takes slow route to golf success

TOKYO (AFP) –

Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama is pictured during the Sony Open in Hawaii on January 10, 2013. The newly professional 21-year-old says he is ready to take on the US PGA Tour and work towards a major title.

Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama has bided his time since becoming an amateur sensation, but the newly professional 21-year-old says he is now ready to take on the US PGA Tour and work towards a major title.

In a year of teenage golfing phenoms, the two-time Asian amateur champion has shown the virtues of taking a slower route to success after he delayed turning pro to attend university.

Now, in his rookie professional year, Matsuyama has found it was worth the wait after winning once and twice finishing second in his first four events on the Japanese tour, putting him top of the domestic prize-money list.

Matsuyama’s measured approach contrasts with China’s Guan Tianlang, 14, who became the youngest player to appear and make the cut at the Masters in April, and is now about to play his fourth straight event on the US tour.

In early May, fellow Chinese Ye Wocheng smashed Guan’s year-old record as the youngest European Tour competitor when he played the Volvo China Open at the age of just 12, missing the cut after back-to-back rounds of 79.

China’s Guan Tianlang during the Byron Nelson Championship in Texas on May 16, 2013. He became the youngest player to appear and make the cut at the Masters in April, and is now about to play his fourth straight event on the US tour.

Matsuyama is also compared with his Japanese contemporary Ryo Ishikawa, the “Bashful Prince”, a 21-year-old former amateur whizz who turned pro at 16 but has so far failed to make an impression on the US PGA Tour.

However, Matsuyama, who is 80th in the world rankings — 34 spots higher than Ishikawa, and the second-placed Japanese player behind Hiroyuki Fujita — said he was now impatient to make the transition to the United States.

“I strongly feel like going to the United States soon,” Matsuyama told reporters in Tokyo on Monday, a day after finishing a stroke behind South Korea’s Kim Hyung-Sung in the Japan PGA Championship.

“I’ve seen Ryo struggle early in the season in the United States and I’ve thought there must be a tremendous difference in the environment from Japan,” he said at the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of Japan.

“I really feel like putting myself in such a tough situation and polishing my skills.”

Image provided by OneAsia on May 3, 2013 shows China’s Ye Wocheng at the Volvo China Open in Tianjin. He smashed Guan Tianlang’s year-old record as the youngest European Tour competitor when he played the Volvo China Open at the age of just 12

Like Guan, Matsuyama won the Asian amateur championship to gain entry to the Masters in 2011, making history as the first non-professional from Japan to play the prestigious tournament.

At Augusta, he made the cut and finished tied 27th, winning the Silver Cup — now held by Guan — as the lowest scoring amateur.

The performance was remarkable, coming just weeks after Japan’s 2011 earthquake and tsunami disaster ravaged his university city of Sendai. Matsuyama was training in Australia when the tragedy struck.

He then successfully defended his Asian amateur title, winning a spot at the 2012 Masters where he finished 54th.

Despite the temptations of turning professional, Matsuyama heeded the advice of his coach who said a university career would make him a better golfer. Now, with his confidence soaring, he is even eyeing a shot at a major title.

New Zealand’s Lydia Ko during the third round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship in California on April 6, 2013. Ko, who is already the youngest US LPGA winner, is resisting calls to go professional in favour of pursuing her studies at university.

“I do believe I have all the basic elements necessary for eventually winning a major,” he said.

“At the Masters, there is not much rough and the green is hard and fast. It is a course where you are all right even if you hook tee-shots. So if I master other elements, I guess I may be able to win.”

Matsuyama’s progress may be of interest to New Zealand amateur Lydia Ko, 16, who is already the youngest US LPGA winner but is resisting calls to go professional in favour of pursuing her studies at university.

A cautionary tale in the women’s game comes from Michelle Wie, who turned professional in a blaze of publicity aged just 15, but has fallen short of expectations.

Matsuyama said his experience of the 2011 quake-and-tsunami disaster, which killed thousands of people and triggered the world’s worst nuclear accident in a generation, had stayed with him as he pursues his career.

“I realised for the first time that I can encourage and inspire people if I give it my all,” he said. “I really felt I should not forget this when I play golf.”

Matsuyama has already booked a berth at the British Open in July by finishing second at a qualifier in March, and on Monday he will enter a one-day tournament in Bando, Japan for a spot at next month’s US Open.