AUGUSTA (United States): Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama eagled the par-5 eighth hole on Thursday to seize a share of the lead at the 85th Masters on Thursday.
Matsuyama, chasing his first major title, sank a 20-foot birdie putt at the par-45 second and rolled in a 25-footer for eagle at eight to stand at 3-under par after 11 holes.
In 1936, Toichiro “Torchy” Toda and Seisui “Chick” Chin became the first players from Japan to play in the Masters.
No Japanese golfer has led after any round of the tournament in the 85 years since, but Matsuyama made a bid to change that on Thursday.
Matching him for the early first-round lead was South African Christiaan Bezuidenhout and South Korean Kim Si-woo.
The 29-year-old finished 3 under in the first round and headed to the clubhouse tied for the lead with American Brian Harman (already in the clubhouse) and Australian Marc Leishman.
Matsuyama’s first bogey of the afternoon, on No. 17, dropped him one back of the lead, but he rebounded to make par on No. 18 during a tough day for scoring.
A five-time PGA Tour winner who ranks 25th in the world, Matsuyama has four top-15 finishes in his previous nine appearances at Augusta.
If he remains in the top 5 by Thursday night, it would be his best finish after the first round of a major.
Top-ranked defending champion Dustin Johnson, trying to become only the fourth back-to-back winner at Augusta National, opened with a bogey but answered with a birdie at the second. He found a fairway bunker and made bogey at the par-4 fifth to join a pack on 1-over at the turn.
