Enormous pressure on Japan’s top golfer Hideki Matsuyama at Tokyo Olympics

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This article was published 27/07/2021 (1550 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

TOKYO—For an illustration of the pride of place being afforded the men’s and women’s Olympic golf tournaments in this golf-crazed country, consider the conditions at the Tokyo 2020 golf course. In the interest of optimally preparing for the arrival of some of the planet’s best practitioners, organizers have kept the layout closed to play going back to the beginning of May.

In other words, until the Olympians began arriving for practice rounds this week, no one but the greenskeepers and the broadcast crews preparing the TV stage have been allowed on the property for most of three months. And no, this wasn’t some science-disregarding stroke of optics-driven illogic, like the one that kept Ontario’s courses inexplicably untrodden for some of that same time period. This was an actual plan with an eye toward an actual goal: Specifically, Olympic perfection.

Still, in the midst of a pandemic, with the global golf business booming, it must have taken some doing to commandeer the Kasumigaseki Country Club’s vaunted East Course, a jewel of a near-100-year-old track in the most populous city of a golf-loving country and say, effectively: Yes, fellow countrymen, we know you’re all hankering to fold the sod over an afternoon’s worth of beery pitching wedges. But not here. Not now. The Olympics is too important.

Which, by extension, gives you some idea of the weight of expectation riding on the broad shoulders of Hideki Matsuyama, Japan’s best golfer. This is a country that seems to rabidly follow the every move of even its most marginal pro athletes, especially when they make even the slightest impact on distant shores. So if Raptors forward Yuta Watanabe’s emergence as a Toronto bit player garnered considerable coverage here this past season — and it did — and if the face of Washington Wizards forward Rui Hachimura currently fills Tokyo billboards — and never mind that he’s a below-average NBA starter, it does — it’s hard to calculate the exponential deluge of attention that’s been foisted in Matsuyama’s direction since he became the first Asian player to win the Masters back in April.

“(Matsuyama) is probably under the most pressure of anyone here,” said Corey Conners, who along with Mackenzie Hughes will form Canada’s contingent in the men’s tournament that begins Thursday. Brooke Henderson and Alena Sharp will represent Canada in the 72-hole women’s event that begins a week from Wednesday.

Said Hughes: “It’s enormous. What (Matsuyama) goes through on a daily basis, whether he’s in the States or over here, is pretty incredible. And hats off to him for performing the way he does given all the spotlight that’s on him.”

There are some who wouldn’t envy carrying around the host country’s high hopes. Just ask Naomi Osaka how attempting to live up to Japan’s five-ringed expectations went for her. When the tennis star bowed out of the women’s tennis tournament with a third-round loss on Tuesday, she acknowledged that the enormity of the pressure played a role. The world No. 2 had been given the honour of lighting the cauldron in the opening ceremony, and here she was flaming out.

Matsuyama, for his part, seems far from a sure thing to be in contention in the 72-hole event. It was only a few weeks ago he tested positive for COVID-19. And when he met with the media here Tuesday, he made it clear he’s been hampered by his case. He said he hadn’t watched much of the Olympics on TV because, when he returns home to the hotel at day’s end, he’s tired. He said he’s not sure how he’ll feel physically once play begins, but he’ll try to make up for his COVID-related “deficit” with mental toughness.

“Since my Masters win I haven’t had the best results so far this summer,” he said. “So I’m a little bit nervous.”

It could be worse, of course. If Matsuyama is or is not burdened by national expectation, at least he’s not playing to remove himself from a military obligation. That’s the bizarre scenario facing the men’s team hailing from South Korea. Win a medal, any colour, and either one of Sungjae Im and Si Woo Kim can earn an exemption from their country’s mandatory two-year military service. Don’t win a medal, and it’s off to the barracks.

If enlisting in the service is a fact of life in the shadow of the unpredictable whims of a North Korea dictatorship — and if it’s only avoidable to those who can claim to “enhance national prestige,” a bill fit by Olympic medallists — there’s anecdotal evidence that serving is disastrous for one’s golf game. It was only a few years ago that Sangmoon Bae, a two-time winner on the PGA Tour, fulfilled his patriotic obligation. He’s been searching for his form ever since. Ditto Seung-yul Noh, who won on the PGA Tour in 2014 and, after returning from his two years of service in 2020, has struggled to re-establish himself as a pro.

“I cannot imagine having rules like that,” Hughes said, speaking of the South Koreans. “That’s tremendous pressure. I cannot really fathom what that’s like. I think that’s 100 times what Matsuyama’s got going on. Two years of your life dedicated to the military … It can really impact your career.”

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If pressure is in the eye of the beholder, you can make the case Conners and Hughes are playing a high-stakes game this week, too. Both are making their Olympic debut. And given how both have been laying down some of the best big-tournament golf of their lives — Hughes played in the final group of the U.S. Open and posted a sixth-place finish at the Open Championship earlier this month; Conners finished eighth at the Masters — this week amounts to a considerable opportunity.

The Olympics only come around every four years — every five in this case — and yet the field of 60 is as small as it gets in such a prestigious event. There are only three players representing the United States this week, for instance, instead of the usual legions on the PGA Tour. Then again, there are only three places on the leaderboard anyone cares about; finishing fourth, no matter where you’re from, isn’t much different than finishing last. Nobody much cares beyond the hardware.

But to finish on the podium — for a lot of countries, and certainly this one and the home and native land of Conners and Hughes — the Olympians will navigate the pressure on a pristine layout for the prospect of being treated like national royalty. Or, in the case of the South Koreans, for the privilege of avoiding the military.

“Hopefully it doesn’t come down to one of us versus one of them,” Hughes said, speaking of a theoretical showdown for a medal between a Canadian and a South Korean. “They’d be pulling on a lot of emotional heartstrings there. Because obviously I’d want to win for myself, but I feel like I wouldn’t want to send ’em off to the military with my own putt, or something like that.”

Dave Feschuk is a Toronto-based sports columnist for the Star. Follow him on Twitter: @dfeschuk