Japan's Hideki Matsuyama shines brightest for Asian golf in 2024

As another year draws to a close, one thing remains certain — the sun always rises in the Far East with Japan truly basking in the glory of its most famous golfing son, Hideki Matsuyama.

The 32-year-old Matsuyama was the star of the show in 2024 for Asian golf when he won twice on the PGA Tour to cement his stature as the winningest player from the region with 10 career victories.

The 2021 Masters champion was triumphant at the Genesis Invitational in February and FedEx St. Jude Championship in August as he finished tied ninth in the FedExCup and will conclude the year as the World No. 6-ranked player. Matsuyama also clinched the bronze medal in the Paris Olympics.

In Japan, the word senpai, simply translated, means “senior", which is both a natural and respectful way of referring to someone who is your elder. Matsuyama has certainly played the big brother role to aspiring Japanese golfers that the likes of Rikuya Hoshino, Kaito Onishi and Takumi Kanaya have risen with successful campaigns in 2024 as well, and will join Matsuyama and another Japanese youngster, Ryo Hisatsune on the PGA Tour in 2025.

Hoshino, Onishi and Kanaya all took different routes to golf’s promised land, with Hoshino earning his way through the DP World Tour Top-10, Onishi via the Korn Ferry Tour Top-30 and Kanaya finishing top-5 in the PGA Tour Qualifying School Finals. It is believed the last time there were five Japanese golfers on the PGA Tour was back in 2003.

“I'm really not the pioneer. There's been so many others that have come before me and have laid the foundation for me to achieve this goal. So it's not just me, but it's all of those that have gone before me that have tried and struggled and put the work in and were great examples to me,” said Matsuyama, referring to the likes of Isao Aoki, Shigeki Maruyama, Ryuji Imada and Satoshi Kodaira, who have all won on the PGA Tour previously.

Asia also welcomed its newest PGA Tour winner when Kevin Yu broke through at the Sanderson Farms Championship in October, becoming only the third Chinese Taipei golfer after T.C. Chen (1987 LA Open, now the Genesis Invitational) and C.T. Pan (2019 RBC Heritage) to win on the elite circuit.

“It's literally a dream come true,” said Yu. “I've been dreaming of this moment since I was five. I think this is the dream for all the golfers, to win on PGA Tour. And then I did it.”

Yu has wasted no time in playing his role to spur the development of junior golf back home by hosting his first elite golf camp earlier this month where 13 juniors were in attendance. When Yu was a kid, he was inspired after attending a clinic by former women’s World No. 1 Yani Tseng, also of Chinese Taipei.

“I’ve always wanted to give back to golf in general. What I’ve been through in my journey, it’s the same for these kids. If I can offer my time and help them achieve their goals, that would be good. I just wanted to share some of my experiences with them,” he said.

“When I was young, I went to a Yani Tseng clinic a couple of times. It is one of the best memories of my life. You see them win tournaments, and I want to emulate them. I was like maybe 10 or 12 when I attended the clinic with Yani. It was quite an inspiration. Just watching her play a bit, it was great. I remember she talked about the mentality of being on the golf course and showing resilience. That was cool,” he said.

There were no Korean winners this season but Sungjae Im and Byeong Hun An stood out by qualifying for the FedExCup Playoffs Finale, the Tour Championship, which is exclusive to the Top-30 players. Im finished seventh in Atlanta as he qualified for his sixth straight Tour Championship appearance since joining the Tour in 2019 while An, with five top-10 and six top-25s, enjoyed his career best season by placing 21st in Atlanta.

Si Woo Kim and Tom Kim ended the season at 32nd and 59th positions, respectively, and were also big part of the International Team in the Presidents Cup, which saw them deliver several memorable moments against the United States Team at Royal Montreal.

--

The writer is senior director, marketing and communications, APAC for the PGA TOUR.