Who is Mao Matsuyama? Everything about the 16-year-old Japanese PGA Tour debutant explored

Japan’s Mao Matsuyama, who's only 16, will make his PGA Tour debut at the Sony Open in Hawaii, set to start on January 9 at the Waiʻalae Country Club. He's a sponsor exemption in the tournament after triumphing at the Japan Amateur last year. The victory also marked another record as he became the youngest golfer to win the Japan Amateur at the age of 15.

Mao Matsuyama is from Nagoya, Japan and he's the middle sibling in his family. He started playing with a club at the age of three and started proper golf classes at the age of five. His father supported his dream and by the age of eight, he started dreaming of becoming a professional golfer.

“As I played golf every day, I started to feel the sense of joy and fun in the game…I realized that I wanted to play this game for a long time. That’s how I started dreaming about becoming a professional golfer,” Mao Matsuyama said (via PGA Tour).

Mao Matsuyama also got to play a practice round with Hideki Matsuyama, who won the 2022 Sony Open and 2025 Sentry tournament. Mao also shared his views on Hideki’s play at the Sentry:

“I watched it in its entirety…It was an amazing feat in itself to win the tournament. But to do so with that score was absolutely incredible. I only have one word - incredible.”

He also talked about the practice round experience with Hideki.

“It was really a learning experience for me…I was fortunate to play a round with him to continue my education,” Matsuyama said.

Mao Matsuyama will play at the Sony Open at 6:40 p.m. ET with Isaiah Salinda and John Pak. Currently, he's positioned at the 158th place in the WAGR rankings.

How did Mao Matsuyama play in the 2024 season?

Mao Matsuyama had back-to-back triumphs at the Japan Amateur Championship and Toyota Junior World Cup last year. Apart from that, he had two T5 finishes at the DUNLOP PHOENIX tournament challenge in Fukushima and the Japan Junior Championship. He had two more top-20 finishes at the Chubu Open Golf Championship with T7 and the Vantelin Tokai Classic with T17.

Here's the entire list of Mao Matsuyama's 2024 tournaments:

• Casio World Open Golf Tournament: T68, Points Avg: 4.9373
• Dunlop Phoenix Tournament: T58, Points Avg: 5.8192
• Mitsui Sumitomo VISA Taiheiyo Masters: T82, Points Avg: 3.0979
• Japan Open Golf Championship: T103, Points Avg: 3.7433
• Vantelin Tokai Classic: T17, Points Avg: 8.3212
• DUNLOP PHOENIX tournament challenge in Fukushima: T5, Points Avg: 6.4698
• Japan Junior Championship: T5, Points Avg: 4.9601
• Chubu Open Golf Championship: T7, Points Avg: 4.8468
• Japan Amateur Championship: Winner, Points Avg: 11.8517
• Toyota Junior World Cup: Winner, Points Avg: 9.9698