Matsuyama’s spectacular 3-wood seals victory at ZOZO Championship in Japan

Hideki Matsuyama thrilled his home crowd by winning the ZOZO Championship by five strokes.

For Japanese golf fans, just seeing Hideki Matsuyama in the flesh would have been a huge thrill.

Since winning the 2021 Masters, Hideki Matsuyama is hot property in his home country in Japan. So when the PGA Tour rolled into Japan this week, golf fans were keen to see Matsuyama in the flesh.

Few will forget his spectacular 3-wood to the final green to set up an eagle and a dominant five-stroke victory.

Coronavirus restrictions meant that just 5000 people could attend the ZOZO Championship each day and it seemed like every one of them were following Matsuyama’s every shot.

After a late bogey on the front nine, combined with birdies from the chasing American duo of Cameron Tringale and Brendan Steele, it appeared as though the fairytale homecoming wasn’t going to happen.

Matsuyama put his foot down to make three birdies in his next six holes. A bogey at the 17th meant Matsuyama took a two-shot lead into the final hole.

An eagle to remember capped off a memorable week for Matsuyama and Japanese golf fans.

Matsuyama’s win means he moves to within one victory of K.J. Choi’s total career wins of eight PGA TOUR titles, which is the most ever wins by an Asian player.