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Posted March 24, 2012, 9:07 pm |

Amateur Hideki Matsuyama enters with win over Schwartzel

  • Article Photos
    Amateur Hideki Matsuyama enters with win over Schwartzel
    Photos description
    Hideki Matsuyama celebrates after successfully defending his Asian Amateur championship in October.
  • Article Photos
    Amateur Hideki Matsuyama enters with win over Schwartzel
    Photos description
    Hideki Matsuyama waits in the shade of a golf cart during the first round of the Asian Amateur Championship.
  • Article Photos
    Amateur Hideki Matsuyama enters with win over Schwartzel
    Photos description
    Hideki Matsuyama tees off on the second hole during the first round of the Asian Amateur Championship.
  • Article Photos
    Amateur Hideki Matsuyama enters with win over Schwartzel
    Photos description
    Hideki Matsuyama checks his club during the first round of the Asian Amateur Championship.
  • Article Photos
    Amateur Hideki Matsuyama enters with win over Schwartzel
    Photos description
    Hideki Matsuyama tries to cool off in the Singapore heat during the first round of the Asian Amateur Championship.
  • Article Photos
    Amateur Hideki Matsuyama enters with win over Schwartzel
    Photos description
    Hideki Matsuyama of Japan celebrates with his caddie, Katsuya Kobayashi, after winning the Asian Amateur Golf Championship in Singapore on Oct. 2.
  • Article Photos
    Amateur Hideki Matsuyama enters with win over Schwartzel
    Photos description
    Hideki Matsuyama celebrates with his caddie, Katsuya Kobayashi, after winning the Asian Amateur Golf Championship on Oct. 2.

Japanese amateur Hideki Mat­suyama has enjoyed a fruitful 18 months.

He won the Asian Ama­teur Championship in the
fall of 2010 to earn his first trip to the Masters Tour­nament.

He made the cut in his first visit to Augusta Na­tion­al Golf Club and earned the silver cup awarded to the low amateur with his tie for 27th.

Six months later, at Singa­pore Island Country Club, he repeated as Asian Amateur champ to get into this year’s Masters.

He backed that up with a victory in the Taiheiyo Mas­ters on the Japan Golf Tour, beating a field that included reigning Mas­ters champion Charl Schwartzel.

Matsuyama eagled the final hole to win by two strokes. He credited his Mas­ters experience for helping him become just the third amateur to win on Japan’s pro tour.

“I didn’t expect to win this tournament. I wanted to be just the low amateur here, but to my surprise, I won,” he said.

At the Asian Amateur, Mat­su­yama blitzed the final 36 holes with rounds of 65 and 67. He beat South Korea’s Lee Soo-min by a shot.

He opened with rounds of 67 and 71, and his 72-hole total of 18-under par established a record in the three-year- old event.