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| - Hideki Matsuyama stumbled early in Sunday's tension-packed final round of the 85th Masters, seeing his four-stroke lead trimmed to three as he tries to become the first Japanese man to win a major golf title. Matsuyama, who began ahead by four on 11-under through 54 holes, opened bogey-birdie while American Will Zalatoris had back-to-back birdies and a bogey to start the final round at Augusta National. Matsuyama sent his opening tee shot well right into trees, punched out his second shot off pine straw short of the green, then pitched on and just missed a 25-foot par putt. At the par-5 second, Matsuyama found a greenside bunker but blasted out and tapped in for birdie to return to 11-under overall. Zalatoris, who could be the first player to win the Masters in his debut since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979, was within one shot before missing a five-foot par putt at the par-4 third to fall back to 8-under. Canada's Corey Conners birdied the second while England's Justin Rose and Australia's Marc Leishman started bogey-birdie to leave them sharing third on 7-under with American Xander Schauffele, who parred the first. A typical Sunday set-up at Augusta National offered back-nine scoring opportunities for challengers in windy conditions and a tension-packed risk and reward test like few other courses in the world. Three-time major winner Jordan Spieth opened with a bogey but made his fourth birdie of the week at the second to stand seventh on 5-under. Spain's third-ranked Jon Rahm had a birdie-eagle start and a birdie at the par-5 eighth to share eighth at 4-under overall after the front nine. Back-nine runs of four consecutive birdies by England's Paul Casey and Tyrell Hatton showed the low scoring on offer over the closing holes. Japan's Chako Higuchi won the 1977 LPGA Championship and Hinako Shibuno won the 2019 Women's British Open but the best majors by Japanese men were Isao Aoki's runner-up effort at the 1980 US Open and Matsuyama's share of second at the 2017 US Open. "All I can do is prepare well, try my best, and do the best that I can," Matsuyama said through a translator. Matsuyama, 29, could become only the second Asian man to win a major title after South Korea's Yang Yong-eun at the 2009 PGA Championship. World number 25 Matsuyama hasn't won since the 2017 WGC Akron tournament, but 87 US PGA starts later, he will try to match the triumph from his only other 54-hole outright tour lead, at WGC Shanghai in 2016. Matsuyama's starting lead was the same margin 2020 winner Dustin Johnson had entering last year's final round, and the same size as the lead Rose took after Thursday's opening round only to squander it. Of the last 30 Masters champions, 25 of them came from the final Sunday pairing, which this week had Matsuyama joined by sixth-ranked Schauffele for a second straight day. Schauffele has had eight runner-up finishes since last winning in January 2019 at the US PGA Tournament of Champions, including a share of second behind Tiger Woods at the 2019 Masters. Rose, the 2013 US Open champion and a two-time Masters runner-up, is trying to become only the third Englishman to capture the green jacket after three-time winner Nick Faldo and Danny Willett in 2016. Leishman, whose lost a playoff at the 2015 British Open, hopes to improve on his top Masters finish of fourth in 2013. Faldo in 1979 was the most recent player to come from outside the top five in the final round to win. But Spieth is attempting to match the feat a week after snapping a four-year win drought with a US PGA triumph at San Antonio. Since 1960, only US left-hander Phil Mickelson and Scotsman Sandy Lyle have won the Masters and won the prior week as well. Second-ranked Justin Thomas, who began 10 strokes adrift, would become the new world number one with a victory but he would have to eclipse the record last-day Masters comeback of eight strokes by Jack Burke in 1956. js/rcw
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