Hideki Matsuyama blew a big lead but he recovered to birdie the final two holes and edge Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele by two strokes and win the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship.
“No lead is safe and I knew someone was going to make a run,” said Matsuyama of falling a stroke back. “I felt today’s victory slipping away…I knew I had to birdie and somehow I was able to get it on the green and (make the putt). It made 18 a lot easier to play.”
The 32-year-old Japanese star had his wallet stolen earlier in the week and didn’t have his coach or caddie, who had their passports lifted in the theft, at his disposal but it didn’t bother his game.
“Maybe because of that, I won this week,” he mused.
Or it may have been because he changed putters and had his best putting week of the season, closing in even-par 70 at TPC Southwind in Memphis on Sunday and a 72-hole total of 17-under 263. Matsuyama typically travels with as many as six different putters and before the tournament began he tinkered with them on the practice green.
“I felt like I needed a change of pace, kind of a refresh with my putter,” he explained.
Matsuyama, who won the bronze medal two weeks ago, built a five-stroke lead, the largest 54-hole lead on the PGA Tour this season, but still took three putters to the practice green on Sunday morning. He elected to stick with the Scotty Cameron putter that had treated him so well since he stuck it in the bag on Thursday.
“I’ve had the putter for a while, and I thought, well, it might be a good week to debut that putter,” said Matsuyama, who gained 8.2 strokes on the greens against the field.
Wearing a splash of his Sunday yellow and white, he opened with seven straight pars before he buried a 39-foot birdie putt at No. 8 and a 19-foot birdie putt at No. 11. On another typically hot and humid day, it looked as if Matsuyama wouldn’t need to break a sweat walking the difficult closing stretch in Memphis at a course where he lost in a playoff three years ago. Matsuyama played his first 65 holes in 19 under and then the next five in 4 over, finding the water off the tee at the par-3 14th for a bogey and a double bogey at the 15th that cost him the lead to Hovland.
“I knew I still had two holes left, and that was just what I was thinking: Two more holes. I’ve got to make one birdie,” Matsuyama said.
Matsuyama then sank a 26-foot uphill birdie putt at 17 to regain the lead and hit a beauty at 18 to 6 feet to seal his second win of the season, 10th career Tour title and improve to third in the FedEx Cup.
Matsuyama mic drop. pic.twitter.com/c5Buv17xto
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 18, 2024
Schauffele trailed Matsuyama by nine strokes to start the day but birdied four of the first six holes and shot a bogey-free 7-under 63.
“It was a head-down day,” said Schauffele, who lipped out a birdie chip at 18. “You’re so far back.”
It’s been a disappointing year for Hovland, who had recorded just one top-10 finish this season. He needed to jump into the top 50 this week to advance to the BMW Championship otherwise he would’ve been the first player not to defend his title at the BMW. He made a bogey at 17 and missed a 9-foot birdie putt in his bid to win the third straight FedEx Cup playoff event dating to last year. Still, he vaulted to No. 16 in the FedEx Cup season-long standing and will have a chance to defend his title at the Tour Championship in two weeks.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who remains in the lead in the FedEx Cup, drained a 41-foot birdie putt at 18 to shoot 66 and finish fourth.
“I put up a good fight this week,”Scheffler said. “I tried to make my way up the leaderboard, but I just wasn’t able to do it.”
The top 50 finishers in the FedEx Cup season-long points race advanced to the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado. Eric Cole and Nick Dunlap joined Hovland as the three players who moved into the top 50 while Tom Kim, Mackenzie Hughes and Jake Knapp were the three players to drop out. Of the 50 players who advanced to the BMW Championship, 19 were not in the top 50 of the final 2023 FedEx Cup standings (38 percent).
After the Olympics, Matsuyama stopped in London for one day and enjoyed a celebratory meal with his caddie Shota Hayato, and coach, Mikihito Kuromiya. Matsuyama had already paid the bill when a robber swiped his wallet and also nabbed the passports and visas of his caddie. The members of Matsuyama’s team had no choice but to return to Japan and request expedited travel documents instead of going to Memphis for the first leg of the playoffs.
“Luckily I only lost my wallet,” said Matsuyama, who talked to his coach every day and used the regular caddie of fellow Japanese tour pro Ryo Hisatsune. “I’ve forgotten it completely. It’s not even an issue now.”
Nothing would stop Matsuyama from finally winning a FedEx Cup playoff event.
“I’ve tried hard for 10 years, and it’s a great feeling of satisfaction to finally be able to have done it,” he said.
