Chiba, Japan: Hideki Matsuyama soared on the back of two final-round eagles to thrill his army of home fans with a runaway victory in the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP.

The reigning Masters champion closed with a five-under-par 65 for a 15-under aggregate of 265 in the PGA Tour event at Narashino Country Club.

That was five strokes clear of American duo Brendan Steele (66) and Cameron Tringale (69), who tied for second. A further four shots back in equal fourth were American Mackenzie Hughes, Colombian Sebastian Munoz and England’s Matt Wallace.

While 29-year-old Matsuyama took the plaudits for his seventh PGA Tour win, there was also satisfaction for his fellow former Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship winner and ex-World Amateur Golf Ranking number one Takumi Kanaya.

Kanaya, who turned pro last year, enjoyed his career first top-10 finish on the PGA Tour in his 10th career start. He posted a final round 66 to finish joint seventh. He and Matsuyama were the only two Japanese players inside the top-10.

Matsuyama played beautifully all week, making a mockery of his recent poor form. The highlights of his final round were eagles at the sixth and 18th, where he struck a three-wood approach to 12 feet and rolled home the putt.

In 2019, Tiger Woods won the inaugural ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, the first PGA Tour event in Japan. Last year the tournament was moved to California due to Covid-19 restrictions and was won by Patrick Cantlay.