May 7, 2018
SPORTS
THE ASIAN REPORTER n Page 7
Asians in American sports w Asian Americans in world sports
Eastern talent on display at 2018 Masters
By Mike Street
Special to The Asian Reporter
AP Photo/Chris Carlson
AP Photo/David J. Phillip
T
rying to draw in an international audience, the
Masters Tournament at Augusta National has
sometimes issued special invitations to popular
international golfers who hadn’t otherwise qualified. But
as eastern talent levels have increased, many Asian
golfers have qualified on their own merit, requiring fewer
special invitations. This year saw several Asian golfers
qualify and perform well at the Masters, along with one
Asian-American golfer who cracked the top ten.
A handful of prominent Asian-American golfers have
performed well at the Masters: Tiger Woods has won four
times, and Kevin Na barely missed the top ten in both
2012 and 2013. This year, however, Tony Finau did what
Na and other Asian and Pacific Islander (API) golfers
couldn’t, finishing in 10th place.
In 2015, Finau qualified for the Professional Golfers’
Association (PGA) Tour, becoming the first person of
Tongan or Samoan heritage to do so. After watching Tiger
Woods win his first Masters in 1997, Tony took up the
game at age seven, following in the footsteps of his
younger brother Gipper, who was already playing well.
Both boys soon made their mark, winning tournaments
and leading their high school to its first golf championship
in the school’s 114-year history. Tony turned pro in 2007, a
year after winning the Utah State Amateur tournament
at age 16. The same year Tony went pro, Gipper became
the third-youngest player to make the cut at a PGA event
when he played in the PGA Nationwide in Utah. Gipper
continues to play on the developmental Web.com tour,
hoping one day to follow his older brother onto the PGA
Tour.
Since qualifying, Tony has steadily improved on the
tour. He notched five top-ten finishes in his first season,
then won his first career PGA Tour event in 2016. Last
season, he had eight top-ten finishes, including five in the
top five. Heading into the Masters this season, Tony had
two second-place finishes, another top-ten finish, and five
more in the top 25.
In April, Finau made the most of his Masters debut,
especially on the first and last rounds. In the round on
Thursday, he recovered from a bogey on the first hole to
shoot six birdies and card a 68. Then he shot a 74 on Friday
and bogeyed four straight holes on Saturday, finishing
with a 73.
After posting two weak scores, few people were looking
at Finau on Sunday, but he finished strong nonetheless.
Sitting at par after 11 holes, he birdied six straight holes
for a 66, finishing in a tie for 10th, eight shots ahead of his
idol, Tiger Woods.
MASTERFUL STROKES. A handful of prominent Asian-American golfers have performed well at the Masters: Tiger Woods has won four times,
and Kevin Na barely missed the top ten in both 2012 and 2013. This year, however, Tony Finau (left photo) did what Na and other Asian and Pacific Is-
lander golfers couldn’t, finishing in 10th place. Behind Finau, a host of Asian golfers put together a great tournament at this year’s Masters. Top among
those is 26-year-old Japanese player Hideki Matsuyama (right photo).
Behind Finau, a host of Asian golfers put together a tournaments.
One week after the Masters, Kim might have won his
great Masters tournament. Top among those is Hideki
Matsuyama, the 26-year-old Japanese player who has third PGA tournament at the RBC Heritage, but he fell in
improved his official World Golf Ranking every year since the third playoff hole to 28-year-old Satoshi Kodaira, a
Japanese golfer who finished a stroke behind Kim at the
2008.
As I wrote in September, 2017 was Matsuyama’s best 2018 Masters. Kodaira earned his first Masters invitation
season on the PGA Tour. He won five tournaments and after placing in the top 50 in the official World Golf
had his best result in a PGA major tournament, tying for Rankings. Like Kim, Kodaira will be one to watch.
Two other rising Asian golfers made their Masters
second at the 2017 U.S. Open, one of three second-place
debut in 2018: China’s Haotong Li and India’s
finishes on the season.
Matsuyama had also performed well at previous Shubhankar Sharma. Li dazzled the crowd by carding a
Masters, tying for seventh in 2016 and tying for 11th in 69 on Thursday, but he fizzled down the stretch, shooting
2017. This year, he was hobbled by a slow start, carding a a 76 on Friday and two straight 72s over the weekend to
one-over 73 on Thursday. He never got into a groove in the finish in a tie for 32nd.
Nicknamed “Big Sharma,” Sharma is the top-ranked
next two rounds, shooting one-under on Friday and even
on Saturday. But he recovered on Sunday to shoot a 69 golfer in India, and he won twice on the European Tour
this season. Sharma is also from the same town as Jeev
that enabled him to finish in 19th place.
One stroke behind Matsuyama in the final Masters Milkha Singh, who became the first Indian golfer to play
standing was Filipino-Australian Jason Day, one of the in the Masters in 2008. Singh tied for 25th place that year,
most consistent golfers in the last five years and a but Big Sharma couldn’t follow in his footsteps in 2018,
perennial contender. And one stroke behind Day was missing the cut after shooting a 77 on the first day and 74
22-year-old Si Woo Kim, the South Korean who earned his on the second.
The Masters tournament has become a glimpse of the
PGA Tour card at age 17. After spending several years on
the Web.com developmental tour alongside Finau, Kim increasingly eastern reach of professional golf. Though
won one PGA tournament in each of the past two seasons the PGA has not become dominated by South Korean
and has already finished second and third in two 2018 golfers in the way the Ladies Professional Golf Associa-
tion has, this year’s Masters offered plenty of evidence for
q
rising talent from across the eastern hemisphere.
Ichiro Suzuki released by Mariners, moving to front office
By Tim Booth
AP Sports Writer
S
EATTLE — Ichiro Suzuki has been released by the
Seattle Mariners and is shifting into a front office
role with the team, although he is not completely
shutting the door on playing again.
The Mariners announced that Suzuki was becoming a
special assistant to the chairman effective immediately.
The team said Suzuki will have an active presence with
the team and assist with outfield play, base running, and
hitting.
But nowhere in the announcement do they say the
44-year-old is retiring, although Suzuki is precluded from
returning to the active roster in 2018.
“We want to make sure we capture all of the value that
Ichiro brings to this team off the field,” Seattle general
manager Jerry Dipoto said in a release. “This new role is a
way to accomplish that. While it will evolve over time, the
key is that Ichiro’s presence in our clubhouse and with our
players and staff improves our opportunity to win games.
That is our number-one priority and Ichiro’s number-one
priority.”
Suzuki is in his 18th season and had appeared in 15
games this year for the Mariners. Suzuki started recently
against the Oakland A’s and went 0-for-3 with a walk and
a run scored. He hit .205 in 44 at-bats and all nine of his
hits this season were singles.
“Now I don’t feel as bad about walking Ichiro last night,’’
tweeted Oakland A’s lefty Brett Anderson, who started
the game and walked Suzuki in the third inning.
Suzuki has spent parts of 13 seasons with the Mariners.
He’s also played for Miami and the New York Yankees.
“With Ichiro’s track record of success, his personality,
his unique perspective, and his work ethic, he is
singularly positioned to impact both our younger players
and the veterans in the clubhouse,” Dipoto said. “We
really don’t want him to change anything that he’s doing
right now, with the exception that he will not be playing in
games. We believe that Ichiro’s signing and his
assimilation into our team has helped us this season and
we want to make sure we continue that.”
While Suzuki can’t return to Seattle’s roster this
season, anything beyond 2018 is unknown. While there
are no guarantees of Suzuki returning, Seattle and
Oakland do open the 2019 regular season with a two-game
series in Tokyo.
“While this agreement only covers the 2018 season, it is
our goal that Ichiro be a member of the Seattle
organization long term,” Dipoto said. “As his role evolves
over the 2018 season, it will inform the team and Ichiro on
his best fit with us in 2019 and beyond.”
After almost six years away, Suzuki returned this
spring to help patch an injury-depleted outfield on the
team he played for from 2001 to 2012. Suzuki was signed
after Seattle learned Ben Gamel would miss the first few
weeks of the regular season and the reunion was a
feel-good story of the former star returning to where his
career in the majors got started.
While Suzuki struggled at the plate, he did have a few
defensive gems, including robbing Cleveland’s Jose
Ramirez of a homer on the opening weekend of the season
and reminding everyone of his greatness as an all-around
player. Suzuki earned the 2001 AL Rookie of the Year and
MVP awards with the Mariners and won a pair of AL
batting titles. He was traded to the Yankees midway
through 2012, played parts of three seasons with New
York, then spent three seasons with Miami.
The 10-time All-Star has a .311 average and 3,089 hits,
not including the 1,278 hits he amassed in nine seasons in
Japan.
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level: Hard
# 32
#94213
Instructions: Fill in the grid so that the digits 1
through 9 appear one time each in every row, col-
umn, and 3x3 box.
Solution to
last issue’s
puzzle
Puzzle #93287 (Medium)
All solutions available at
<www.sudoku.com>.
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