Heading into the 2020 Olympic golf tournament at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, there is obviously immense pressure on Hideki Matsuyama of Japan. That is what happens when you a major champion, and have the chance to compete at an Olympic Games in your home country.
However you may not know that Matsuyama has been very successful in the past while competing at the Kasumigaseki Country Club, the golf course which will be used for the two Olympic golf tournaments–both for the men and the women. At the 2010 Asian Amateur Championship, Matsuyama defeated Tarquin MacManus of Australia by five strokes for his first of two consecutive Asian Amateur titles. He also beat Soo-min Lee of South Korea by a stroke to win the 2011 Asian Amateur Championship in Singapore.
Even though the win at the Kasumigaseki Country Club came 11 years ago, Matsuyama has success on a course that many golfers simply do not have a lot of experience with. The course was established back in 1929 by designers Charles Hugh Alison, Kinya Fujita, and Shiro Akaboshi. It is also known for hosting the 1957 Canada Cup. Known as one of the elite team golf competitions at the time, Torakichi Nakamura and Koichi Ono teamed up to post a score of -19. Just how dominant was this performance? Well, they beat their nearest opponent, the United States by nine full strokes. Quite simply, Japanese golf fans will go nuts even if they are not allowed to be on the golf course watching the world’s best.
