AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Hideki Matsuyama smiled as he walked from the front nine to the back on Sunday, never looking toward the giant scoreboard to his right. He held a three-shot lead in the Masters, going out in 2 under. Nine holes remained between him and a major championship, the first ever for a Japanese man. A siren went off in the distance. His caddie tossed a few blades of grass into the air and then Matsuyama stroked a drive right down the middle of the 10th fairway. It felt celebratory. What a strange thing, to have walked golf courses since the age of four and suddenly have this walk, so different from the others, carrying the weight of his own dreams, and the people who came before him who made this possible.
The burden of being Hideki Matsuyama was lifted at the Masters
