Ryo Hisatsune was eight when Hideki Matsuyama entered the Japanese sporting conscience, finishing as the low amateur at the 2011 Masters. He was 10 when Matsuyama turned pro, finally capitalizing on his prodigious talent. And he was still just 18 during the 2021 Masters, watching from afar as Matsuyama became the first Japanese man to win a major championship.
Matsuyama, it should be noted, was not the first great Japanese golfer. That title goes to Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki, who won 94 times on the Japan Golf Tour and notched three top-10s at major championships. At one point in 1996, Ozaki soared to No. 5 in the world.
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But Matsuyama was the first to do it like this. Ozaki never played more than nine PGA Tour events in a year, preferring to stay close to home — a choice that he came to regret later in life. Matsuyama took the opposite approach.
He’s played 20 or more PGA Tour events in each of the past 12 seasons, establishing himself as a globally known star. Eleven PGA Tour titles have come his way, with career earnings over $62 million. Around the world, his name is now synonymous with Japanese golf.
So, of course Hisatsune idolized Matsuyama. How could he not? It was Matsuyama who provided evidence that his dreams were possible.
Ryo Hisatsune plays his tee shot on the 17th hole during Round 2 at the WM Phoenix Open on Feb. 6, 2026, at TPC Scottsdale.
But even those dreams might not have looked quite like this.
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At 11:35 a.m. on Saturday, Feb. 7, Matsuyama and Hisatsune teed off one after another, as the top two names atop the leaderboard at the WM Phoenix Open. Four hours later, they would finish there, too.
A crowd of people cheer for Hideki Matsuyama as he walks toward the tee box at the 7th hole at the WM Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale on Feb. 7, 2026.
Entering the final round, Matsuyama sits in solo first at 13-under. Hisatsune is in a four-way tie for second at 12-under. Each battled through early bogeys and accuracy struggles off the tee, feeding off one another to make just enough shots.
Through it all, there was the added familiarity of a rare Japanese playing partner — a welcome change on a tour in which mid-round conversations typically require Hisatsune and Matsuyama to test the boundaries of their English.
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“Very much more comfortable,” Hisastune said.
The two have been paired together before, but never like this — in contention, on a weekend, in front of the sport’s most raucous crowds.
“How special,” Hisatsune said. “It’s the final group. Then playing with Hideki. Then it’s a huge crowd. So, very excited.”
Matsuyama offers a different perspective. Hisatsune came up behind him. When they first met, playing in Japan four or five years ago, he was already a major champion, with the national attention that title brings.
But he knows what this means — both to Hisatsune and to their country.
“It was a great day today,” Matsuyama said through a translator. “Kind of a first today for Japan to have two Japanese pros play in a final group.”
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That much was evident as Matsuyama and Hisatsune made their way around the course. The Phoenix Open might not draw the massive gaggle of Japanese reporters that follows Matsuyama at the Masters, or Shohei Ohtani everywhere he goes. But there was still a dedicated cohort of five reporters chronicling every shot around TPC Scottsdale, as they do each week, publishing their dispatches for a feverish audience back home.
The Olympics, those reporters said, would typically dwarf any happenings in the golf world. But Matsuyama and Hisatsune are keeping the nation’s attention on the Phoenix Open.
It’s a story beyond what any of these reporters envisioned three days ago. Matsuyama was always among the favorites, but Hisatsune began the week at +12500 — despite finishing in second place at last week’s Farmers Insurance Open. That was a high-water mark for his career, a first in his 65 PGA starts.
By the end of the final round here, it could look like small potatoes. Hisatsune, after all, is 18 holes from becoming the sixth PGA Tour winner in his nation’s history.
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“More chasing Hideki tomorrow,” Hisatsune said.
That’s no problem. It’s what he’s been doing his whole life.
This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Ryo Hisatsune, Hideki Matsuyama put Japan atop Phoenix Open
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