Who Is Hideki Matsuyama's Caddie?
Former world No 2 Hideki Matsuyama has had some huge victories in his career so far, including the Memorial Tournament, two World Golf Championship events and two Waste Management Phoenix Opens. Of course his biggest came at the 2021 Masters tournament. But who carries his bag currently? Let's take a look.
Hideki has had the same man on the bag for the past few years. He is called Shota Hayafuji and he appears to be quite the player himself as he has a player profile on the China Tour. His profile does not have much information on it but it appears in the last round posted, he shot a five-over 77 which included four birdies, a double, triple and quadruple bogey, and finally, a hole-in-one!
We are unsure how Hayafuji and Matsuyama know each other but they appear to be good friends as shown by Hayafuji's Instagram where he documents their travels around the golfing world.
Hayafuji also shot to acclaim around the world after the 2021 Masters, when he bowed to the course on the 18th hole. He and Matsuyama had just completed a one-stroke victory and the gesture was widely admired.
At the start of his golfing journey as a quality amateur and then professional, it appears Hideki had someone called Taisho Okabe on the bag, as you can see from the image below which is from the 2011 Masters where Hideki finished in a tie for 27th place and was the low amateur.
We are unsure when that partnership ended but Hideki turned up to the 2012 Masters with a caddie named Katsuya Kobayashi.
Again this was clearly a temporary partnership as Hideki then worked with caddie Daisuke Shindo for a while. This partnership lasted for a number of years and they had some good success together, including the first five of his PGA Tour victories. It appears the pair stopped working together at the beginning of the 2019 calendar year with Hayafuji first coming onto the bag at the Sony Open in Hawaii.
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