Get to Know Pro Golfer Hideki Matsuyama's Wife

Photo: @hidekimatsuyama1 | Instagram

Golf fans don't know a lot about Hideki Matsuyama's wife, Mei Matsuyama, but they are familiar with her husband's talent. Not just a golf superstar in Japan—Hideki Matsuyama is a history-maker on the global stage. In 2021, he became the first Japanese man to win a major championship, slipping on the iconic Masters green jacket at Augusta National. Over his career, Matsuyama has amassed multiple PGA Tour wins and millions in prize money. Despite his fame as one of the PGA Tour's best players, Matsuyama is famously private off the course. In fact, for months in 2017, fans didn't even know he had quietly gotten married and started a family. While the pair keeps things pretty low-key, here's what we know about Hideki Matsuyama's relationship with his wife, Mei.

• Hideki Matsuyama is married to Mei Matsuyama. They tied the knot in 2017.
• Mei and Hideki Matsuyama have kept details on how they met quiet.
• Mei and Hideki Matsuyama share one child together: Kanna.

In this article:

• Who is Hideki Matsuyama's Wife, Mei Matsuyama?
• How Mei and Hideki Matsuyama Met
• Mei and Hideki Matsuyama's Relationship Timeline
• How the Couple Handles Life in the Spotlight

Who is Hideki Matsuyama's Wife, Mei Matsuyama?

Hideki Matsuyama's wife is a bit of a mystery woman. Her name is Mei Matsuyama—a fact Matsuyama himself kept under wraps for quite some time. In August 2017, after a tournament, he surprised reporters by revealing that he had married Mei earlier that year. Even today, little is known about Mei's personal background. She isn't a public figure or celebrity; rather, she seems to share Hideki's preference for staying out of the limelight. The golfer's official PGA Tour profile confirms his wife's name (Mei) and their daughter's name (Kanna), but beyond that, Mei has virtually no public presence.

How Mei and Hideki Matsuyama Met

So how did the global golf star meet the woman he would eventually marry? Hideki and Mei haven't publicly told the story of how they met, but there are some clues and intriguing rumors. One clue dates back to late 2016, when Matsuyama played in the Hero World Challenge (a small invite-only tournament in the Bahamas). During that event, his caddie for the week was a young woman named Mei. Observant fans have speculated that this caddie might actually have been Mei, the future Mrs. Matsuyama, but this has yet to be confirmed.

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Mei and Hideki Matsuyama's Relationship Timeline

Here's a timeline of Mei and Hideki Matsuyama's relationship, from their hush-hush wedding and the birth of their daughter to public revelations, career highs and how the couple is doing now.

January 2017: Mei and Hideki Matsuyama have a secret wedding

By the start of 2017, Hideki Matsuyama and Mei were already husband and wife. According to Golf Monthly, the golf player's wedding took place in January 2017, away from the prying eyes of the media. How do we know this? Matsuyama himself eventually said so, but not until many months later. There are no public photos from the ceremony, no announcements in the press—nothing. It was as if the wedding never happened, from a public standpoint. This kind of secret wedding is quite remarkable considering Matsuyama's status in Japan; any hint of a celebration would have been big news. But Hideki and Mei pulled it off, quietly saying "I do" and moving on with life as usual.

July 2017: Mei and Hideki Matsuyama welcome a daughter

The summer of 2017 brought the happiest of news for the Matsuyamas: the birth of their first child. Hideki and Mei welcomed a baby girl named Kanna in July 2017. The exact date and details of Kanna's birth were not made public.

August 2017: Hideki Matsuyama discusses his wife and daughter publicly for the first time

The cat was finally out of the bag in late August 2017. During the Northern Trust Open (the first event of the PGA Tour playoffs) in New York, Matsuyama casually mentioned in his press conference that he had gotten married in January, and his wife Mei had given birth to their baby girl in July.

"No one really asked me if I was married, so I didn't have to answer that question," he said. "But I felt that after the PGA would be a good time, because our baby is born and I thought that would be a good time to let everyone know."

April 2021: Hideki Matsuyama Masters triumph—'Played Well for Them'

Fast-forward a few years, and Hideki and Mei's low-profile approach to family life remained firmly in place. Mei and Kanna stayed mostly in the background as Hideki continued to excel on the tour. A huge milestone came in April 2021: Matsuyama won the Masters Tournament, making history for Japan. Yet, due to COVID-19 travel restrictions and Matsuyama's penchant for privacy, his wife and daughter were not in attendance at Augusta. Even though they weren't present, they were on Matsuyama's mind. "I was thinking about them all the way around today. I'm really happy that I played well for them," Hideki said after claiming the green jacket in 2021.

October 2021: Hideki Matsuyama wins the Zozo Championship in Japan

In late 2021, Matsuyama gave Japanese fans a treat by winning the Zozo Championship in his home country. This was his first major win on home soil as a married man and father.

Summer 2024: Hideki Matsuyama takes home the Olympic bronze

Skip ahead to 2024, and Hideki Matsuyama added another historic milestone to his resume—this time on an Olympic stage. Matsuyama represented Japan in the Paris 2024 Olympics golf competition and secured the bronze medal for his country—Japan's first-ever Olympic medal in men's golf.

April 2025: Hideki Matsuyama and his wife continue to keep things low-key

As of April 2025, Mei and Hideki Matsuyama have been married for over eight years. They continue to keep their personal lives out of the limelight. Their daughter Kanna is growing up fast, too, approaching her eighth birthday. By all indications, the couple resides primarily in Japan, and Hideki travels to the US for tournaments as needed.

How the Couple Handles Life in the Spotlight

Mei and Hideki Matsuyama's approach to life in the spotlight can be summed up in one word: privacy. In an era when many sports stars have their family life on full display on Instagram (like Jordan Spieth, for example), the Matsuyamas have done the opposite, handling media attention by simply avoiding it. While you can view Hideki Matsuyama's Instagram account, you won't find any family photos, but there are several snaps of him on the green.