A win in your home event is one thing every professional golfer wants on their CV.

Think Robert MacIntyre claiming glory in Scotland this summer, Jon Rahm’s trio of Open de Espana titles or Shane Lowry winning at County Louth as an amateur in 2009, a home victory just means more.

Matsuyama claimed a stunning win at the 2021 Zozo ChampionshipAFP

This week, the PGA Tour heads to Japan for the 2024 Zozo Championship – a popular and lucrative addition to the FedEx Cup Fall run.

It is typically the last big event of the calendar year for many top pros and boasts an impressive list of champions in its five-year run to date.

While Tiger Woods and Collin Morikawa are among the names to hoist the trophy aloft in Tokyo, the most popular past winner is undoubtedly home favourite Hideki Matsuyama.

Matsuyama has always had a handy knack for winning big tournaments.

His career victories include the Memorial, the Genesis Invitational, the FedEx St. Jude and two World Golf Championships.

And his crowning glory is, of course, claiming a Green Jacket at the 2021 Masters.

But just a few months after his win at Augusta, he claimed an even more emotional victory, the 2021 Zozo in his homeland.

At the inaugural event at the Narashino Country Club, Matsuyama had to settle for a runner-up finish as Woods claimed – to date – his last career victory.

That week, 15-time major winner Woods proved too good, holding off the field to ease to victory by three strokes.

While Matsuyama was best of the rest, he failed to put any real pressure on Woods who incredibly claimed his 82nd tour win.

Matsuyama’s 3-wood on the final hole of the 2021 Zozo is the stuff of legendGetty

However, Matsuyama only had to wait two more years to taste his own success in Japan – and he did so in some style.

High on the confidence of his Masters win, the Japanese star opened up his week with a first-round 64. Back-to-back rounds of 68 then allowed the field to bunch slightly behind him before Sunday’s final round kicked into top gear.

Determined not to let home glory slip from his grasp, Matsuyama put on a clinic on the back nine.

Tiger Woods won the inaugural Zozo ChampionshipGetty Images – Getty

He produced three birdies coming down the stretch before pummelling a huge drive into a great position on the 18th.

To put any doubt to bed, he then hit one of the finest shots in Tour history with his long approach into the final green.

As the late autumn sun began to set and with packed galleries surrounding the hole, Matsuyama pulled out his three-wood and struck a beauty.

He knew it was good too.

As the ball flew towards the pin, he strode behind it, starring it down as it almost slam-dunked straight in for an albatross.

It instead rolled out to around 10 feet and Matsuyama duly putted through the shadows to drain his walk-off eagle and secure glory.

It capped off a memorable year for the now 32-year-old and rubber-stamped his stature as one of the greatest Asian players in history.

In typical Hideki fashion, he played down the immense quality of his win but was delighted to follow in the footsteps of Tiger.

Matsuyama was a hugely popular winner in JapanGetty

He said at the time: “I would rate my performance as two or three out of ten.

“From the results perspective, it went about to eight, but I think it’s because all the energy that I was getting from the fans and I was very surprised how much energy I was feeding off of them.

“That’s how I honestly felt. My confidence was around one or two, but thanks to all the Japanese crowd out there, I was able to feed off of their energy and play well.

“It was one of my biggest goals to win in front of the Japanese fans here in this country as well.

“I’m so happy that I was able to accomplish that. Also, in 2019, Tiger won the Masters and went on to win the Zozo Championship, so I’m glad that I was able to emulate that as well.”

Matsuyama will return to Tokyo in fine form again this week having won the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Tennessee in mid-August.

He’ll be facing an all-star field in Japan but he’ll hope to use that undying energy from his adoring home fans to inspire yet another big win.