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Hideki Matsuyama nearly lost a five-shot lead after a late fall Sunday afternoon at TPC Southwind. But with back-to-back birdies to end his day, Matsuyama leaves Memphis with a victory.
Matsuyama held on late to earn a two-shot victory over the field at the FedEx St. Jude Championship on Sunday, which was the first of three FedEx Cup playoff events to close the PGA Tour season. Matsuyama’s victory pushed him to third place in the standings heading into the BMW Championship.
Matsuyama, who had to spend the tournament with a replacement caddy after an incident in London after the Paris Olympics, began the final round with a huge five-shot lead. He opened the week with a 65 on Thursday before posting back-to-back 64s to build a huge five-shot lead over the rest of the field – which was the largest 54-hole lead on Tour this season. He was tied with Denny McCarthy at the halfway point, but McCarthy, Scottie Scheffler, Nick Dunlap and the rest of the field couldn’t keep up.
Despite taking a five-shot lead Sunday into the back nine, Matsuyama collapsed. He went 4-over in a four-hole stretch after hitting his tee shot on the par-3 14th into the water, then doubled back on the par-4 15th after running into trouble around the green. This suddenly brought Matsuyama back behind Viktor Hovland and opened the door for the rest of the field.
Matsuyama found his putter at No. 17. He sank a 26-footer for birdie to get back to 1-up on the day and regain the lead going into the final hole.
Matsuyama then added a birdie at No. 18 after a perfect approach to get back to 17 under and close his par 70. That gave him the victory by two strokes.
“I knew I had two more holes left, and that’s exactly what I was thinking: ‘Two more holes. I have to make a birdie,'” Matsuyama said through a translator after his victory.
“I knew if I could keep it in the fairway on 17, I’d have a chance. It was in the left rough. Lie wasn’t too bad. I managed to get it on the green.
On this putt, I took advantage of this whole week of putting on the greens. I rode well all week and thought, well, I’ve done it before, let’s do it again. Then 18 was just gravy, I guess.
Matsuyama won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics earlier this month. While returning to the United States for this tournament, Matsuyama stopped in London with his caddy, Shota Hayafuji, and his coach, Mikihito Kuromiya. While having dinner in town one evening, they suddenly realized that their bags were missing.
“We didn’t even know it happened,” Matsuyama said Thursday through an interpreter. via the PGA Tour. "We were just having a friendly dinner and Shota was first,"Hey, where’s my bag?’
“Of course it was frustrating, but we didn’t really know it happened. It was just a bit all of a sudden.
Although Matsuyama’s medal was not stolen, Kuromiya and Hayafuji lost their passports and visas. They therefore had to return to Japan to be replaced while Matsuyama went alone to Memphis. Taiga Tabuchi, who is normally Ryo Hisatsune’s caddy, replaced Matsuyama for this tournament. Hayafuji has been cleared to return to the United States and will be on the bag for Matsuyama in Colorado next week.
Matsuyama has won 10 times in his Tour career and twice this season, following his return at the Genesis Invitational in February. He entered the week ranked 12th in the Official World Golf Rankings and 8th in the FedEx Cup standings, giving him safe entry into the BMW Championship, which begins Thursday. The top 50 golfers in the rankings will advance to the second stage of the playoffs, then the top 30 will advance to the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta.
Xander Schauffele, who won the British Open earlier this season, finished second with Hovland at 15 under. Scheffler finished alone in fourth at 14 under. Scheffler enters next week with a nearly 1,500-point lead in the FedEx Cup standings.