MASTERS SPECIAL
Given his shy and quiet nature, not much is known about Matsuyama’s private and professional life. Here is a peek into the people who surround him:
Wife – Mei, did not accompany him as they had a daughter, named Kanna, in 2017 and she is particular about their privacy.
Caddie: Shota Hayafuji – First victory on the bag. He has been caddying for Hideki for a couple of years and has been a professional player himself, since the China Tour has a player profile on him.
Following Hideki Matsuyama’s Masters win, his caddie, Shota Hayafuji, bowed to the course after returning the pin on the 18th hole. #themasters pic.twitter.com/gdLsWSC0Ac
— ESPN (@espn) April 11, 2021
Translator: Hideki gave all his post victory interviews in Japanese with his translator on hand turning it into English. Bob Turner – a Brigham Young University student who had spent two years during university in Japan. He met the woman who would be his wife, returned to the U.S., and then, after his wife, Hiroko, grew homesick, headed back to Japan to finish his studies and play golf at Tokyo’s Waseda University. He was the only American playing for Waseda, or for any team on the school’s elite level, and one day a tournament director asked him, “What the heck are you doing over here?”
A memorable moment for the newest Masters champion.
Hideki Matsuyama is presented with the Green Jacket in Butler Cabin.
pic.twitter.com/KCsRyLhydL— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 12, 2021
The man offered Turner a job in the golf industry, and soon enough he was helping Seve Ballesteros, Sam Snead and Johnny Miller adjust on trips to Japan. Back in the States years later, Turner’s son Allen would work as an interpreter for Mariners stars Kazuhiro Sasaki and Ichiro Suzuki. Sasaki had attended Matsuyama’s university, Tohoku Fukushi, which would compete in tournaments in Seattle. The school’s golf coach would ultimately ask Turner, who was working for his father, to help Matsuyama get acclimated to Augusta after a 19-year-old Hideki qualified for the Masters in 2011.
Coach: Hidenori Mezawa, also coaches LPGA player Yui Kawamoto. He is credited with going to work to reduce the length of the distinct pause at the top of Matuyama’s backswing, which was noticeably shorter this week. Matsuyama says the coach is like a mirror giving him instant feedback and has been a big help getting him out of the slump he has been in since last winning in 2017.