To be sure, after 7 o’clock Saturday night, the refrain was persistent: “It’s Matsuyama’s Masters to lose.”

There was Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama with a four-stroke lead heading into the final round at Augusta National and three of the favored golfers hadn’t even made the cut.

Then, the next afternoon, his first hole into the finale, the Japanese star’s lead had shrunk to one and Will Zalatoris, playing in his first Masters, was on his heels and seemed decidedly nonplussed.

But Matsuyama, whose interviews are conducted with the aid of an interpreter, quickly got his legs under him and though his one-stroke victory came down to a short tap-in for bogey on 18, the field of chasers self-destructed one-by-one on the verge of making it a tense finish over the final four holes, even the remarkably composed Zalatoris who settled for a close second.

Matsuyama (10-under par), Zalatoris (-9), Jordan Speith and Xander Schauffele (both -7), Jon Rahm and Marc Leishman (both -6) were the top six.

FOR THE LAST dozen-or-so years, I’ve been in a pool called the “Master Blaster.”

Basically, entrants get five picks to win golf’s most prestigious tournament.

To earn points, a participant’s selection(s) must finish in the Top 5.

But there are a couple of twists.

One, every player is assigned odds to win.

And, two, there’s a risk in loading up on pre-tournament favorites as any of those who miss the cut incur such huge penalty points that it’s almost impossible to win, no matter how successful the other golfers they select.

This year’s nine favorites in the field of 88 were Dustin Johnson 9-1, Bryson DeChambeau, Jon Rahm, Justin Thomas and Spieth all 11-1, Rory McIlroy 16-1, Patrick Cantlay 18-1 and Schauffele and Brooks Koepka 22-1.

However, Johnson, the overall Masters favorite, missed the cut as did McIlroy and Koepka.

Thus, 40 of the Master Blaster’s 69 contestants lost at least one of their choices and ended up with negative scores — including yours truly (even Spieth couldn’t save me) — and 10 of them had their champion eliminated at the tourney’s halfway point.

Of course, their absence created opportunities for longer shots.

Matsuyama was mentioned on only five entries … none of them picking him as champion. His odds were 38-1.

Justin Rose, the talk of the tourney the first two rounds, was listed by only two contestants and neither had him winning. He finished seventh at -5, after leading at the midway point.

And Zalatoris, the rail-thin, 24-year-old bound for PGA stardom, made in on to four Master Blaster entries, one of them actually picking him to win his initial appearance in the tourney.

Both Rose and Zalatoris were listed at 67-1 odds.

MATSUYAMA, 29, became the first player of Japanese descent to win the Masters and only the second Asian to claim one of men’s golf’s majors.

But, foreign players claiming the Masters is hardly new.

Half of the last 14 have been won by non-Americans: Matsuyama, Sergio Garcia (Spain) 2017, Danny Willett (England) ’16, Adam Scott (Australia) ’13, Charl Swartzel (South Africa) ’11, Angel Babrera (Argentina) ’09 and Trevor Immelman (South Africa) ’08.

And with four of this year’s top seven finishers — Matsuyama, Rahm (Spain), Leishman (Australia) and Rose (South Africa) — from foreign soil, don’t be surprised if that trend continues.

(Chuck Pollock, a Times Herald senior sports columnist, can be reached at cpollock@oleantimesherald.com)