INZAI, Japan —
Hideki Matsuyama said Tuesday
that he was fully committed to playing on the US PGA Tour as he prepares to
defend his title at this week’s Zozo Championship in his native Japan.
اضافة اعلان
Matsuyama, who became Japan’s first male major
winner at the US Masters last year, will face a field including
Tokyo Olympic champion Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, and rising South Korean Kim
Joo-hyung as the US PGA Tour returns to Narashino Country Club.
Several top stars including two-time major winner
Dustin Johnson and British Open champion Cameron Smith have defected from the
US PGA Tour to Saudi-backed LIV Golf, which offers huge prize purses.
The PGA Tour has banned LIV golfers from competing
in their events and world number 19 Matsuyama said he had no intention of
joining the rebel circuit.
“I’m a member of the PGA Tour — the players who left
did so because they thought it was the right thing to do, so I can’t say
anything about them,” said the 30-year-old, who won last year’s Zozo
Championship title with a stunning eagle on the final hole.
“I am playing on the PGA Tour and I want to continue
doing my best here.”
The US PGA Tour arrived in Japan days after LIV Golf
held its first $25 million event in Asia in Bangkok.
The breakaway circuit is smarting from an
announcement that players competing in Bangkok and its season-ending event in
Jeddah would not receive world ranking points, despite a co-sanctioning
agreement with the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) Tour.
The OWGR (Official World Golf Rankings) which awards
points said it had been given insufficient notice and needed to conduct a
review of LIV Golf’s events, the latest chapter in a bitter civil war that has
torn golf apart and sparked accusations of Saudi “sportswashing”.
Big-hitting American
Bryson DeChambeau, a LIV
player, said the failure to award ranking points was “delaying the inevitable”.
Tiger landmark
Matsuyama offered his
sympathies to LIV players but said resolving the matter was unlikely to be
easy.
“I think it’s fine to award them, but I think it’s
difficult considering how it would be viewed by the other tours,” Matsuyama
said.
Norway’s world number 11
Viktor Hovland said LIV
players should not “just get points overnight”.
“If you want to get world ranking points, you have
to follow the process,” he told reporters at Narashino Country Club.
“At the same time, they have some really good
players over there and if some of those players drop outside the top 100
players in the world, that’s not good for the world rankings either.”
The $11 million Zozo Championship was established in
2019 as the first US PGA Tour tournament in Japan.
Thousands of Japanese fans turned up to watch Tiger
Woods win the inaugural title for his 82nd US PGA Tour victory — equaling Sam
Snead’s 54-year-old record.
The tournament was held in California in 2020
because of the pandemic but returned to Japan last year in front of limited
spectators.
There are no attendance restrictions this year and
Matsuyama said he was looking forward to the home support.
“It’s great to be back as the defending champion,”
he said.
“I’ve really been impressed the last couple of days.
They were practice days but still lots of people came out and cheered us on,
and I know there are going to be even more come Thursday and over the weekend.
“Hopefully I can play my best and give everyone
something to root for.”
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