Sungjae Im can still remember getting up early at his home in Cheongju, South Korea, to watch the Masters on television. He was 10 and quickly became captivated, like most other aspiring young golfers, by Tiger Woods.

“The red color … Tiger,” Im said.

Im, now 28, will make his sixth Masters start this week and is among those who have benefited from Augusta National’s long-standing commitment to growing the game around the world.

The field of this week’s 90th Masters has six native Asian players: Im and Si Woo Kim of Korea, Haotong Li of China, amateur Fifa Laopakdee of Thailand, and Naoyuki Kataoka and 2021 champion Hideki Matsuyama of Japan.

“This is one of the prestigious tournaments in the world and, for a younger Asian kid, it was a dream for me to play in the tournament,” Im said. “And in my first appearance at the Masters, I came in second and it brought up that maybe Asian people can win. So, I think the younger people can get more confidence, and Augusta National was one of the first tournaments to reach out and invite Asian golfers.

Augusta National Chairman Fred Ridley said Wednesday the club will continue to look for ways to “create global pathways” in amateur and professional golf.

“We will continue to explore all avenues to expand the game and its popularity around the world,” Ridley said.

Invitations to players from Asia came early. Seisui “Chick” Chin and Toichiro “Torchy” Toda of Japan were invited to the third Masters in 1936; Chin tied for 20th and Toda tied for 29th. In 1976, the Masters was broadcast live to Japan for the first time and in the ensuing years Japanese stars Masashi “Jumbo” Ozaki, Tommy Nakajima and Isao Aoki made regular appearances.

Hideki Matsuyama plays the first fairway during the Masters golf tournament, at Augusta National Golf Club, April 12, 2025. (Hyosub Shin/AJC)

Augusta National, in an initiative with the R&A, started the Asian-Pacific Amateur in 2009, and four years later 14-year-old Tianlang Guan of China won the title and became the youngest player to earn a spot in the Masters.

But the ultimate success story so far is Matsuyama. He won the Asian-Pacific Amateur in 2010 and 2011 and went on to become the first Asian Masters champion, in 2021. He certainly understood the significance.

“Hopefully the youngsters who are playing golf or thinking of playing golf, I hope they see this victory and think it’s cool and try to follow in my footsteps,” Matsuyama said afterward. “Until now we haven’t had a major champion in Japan, and maybe a lot of younger golfers thought maybe it was an impossibility. With me doing it, hopefully that will set an example for them that it’s possible and that, if they set their mind to it, they can do it, too.”

This year Laopakdee, a junior at Arizona State, won the Asia-Pacific Am on the third playoff hole to become Thailand’s first champion and his country’s first participant in the Masters. His father, Peter Laopakdee, is a PGA professional and remembers his son being captivated by the tournament.

“As a young boy, Fifa watched the Masters on television and was captivated by the massive crowds and electric atmosphere,” Peter Laopakdee told the Asia-Pacific Golf Federation. “He asked what it would take to wear the green jacket. My answer was simple, ‘You must be a champion.’ That moment ignited a lifelong fire within him that one day he will earn the right to wear the green jacket at least once. Our goal (this week) is to make the cut, but whatever the final result may be, it doesn’t matter.”

The Masters further expanded its reach in the Pacific two years ago by awarding invitations to the winners of the Japan Open and Hong Kong Open. Kataoka, who was ranked No. 500 in the world at the time, won the event and is in Augusta this week.

Im, who now has a home in the Atlanta area, continues to hold the Masters with great reverence and has enjoyed success, with three top-10 finishes among his six starts.

The thought of winning the Masters and having the green jacket slipped over his shoulders “gives me chills,” he said.