Hideki Matsuyama was caught completely off guard when he was robbed in London earlier this week.
The Japanese golfer said he was having dinner with caddie Hayato Shota and coach Kuromiya Mikito after the 2024 Olympics on Thursday when the assailant stole his belongings and fled.
But it wasn’t until later that I realised something was wrong.
“I had no idea something like that had happened,” Matsuyama said through an interpreter. According to PGATour.com:“We were just having a friendly dinner and Shota was the first to ask, ‘Hey, where’s my bag?’ Of course it was frustrating, but we didn’t know that was happening. It just happened out of the blue… [the robber] I just took it and ran away.”
The 32-year-old Matsuyama was returning from the Paris Olympics, where he won the bronze medal at Le Golf National on Aug. 4, ahead of this weekend’s FedEx St. Jude Championship.
“It was an unfortunate situation,” Matsuyama said. “Luckily I only lost my wallet, but my caddie Shota and coach lost their passports. We are currently doing everything we can to get their visas back and we hope they will rejoin the team as soon as possible.”
Hayato and Kuromiya were deported to Japan and have had their passports and visas reissued, but Matsuyama has remained in the United States.
As reported by Golf.com: Matsuyama said Hayato could be back in the United States in time for the Tour Championship, which runs from Aug. 28 to Sept. 1, but Kuromiya probably won’t be.
Matsuyama is coming off his best season in recent years, winning his first tour title in two years at the Genesis Invitational in February and finishing the regular season ranked eighth.
He finished behind Scottie Scheffler of the United States, who won gold, and Tommy Fleetwood of Great Britain, who won silver, in the men’s individual stroke play in Paris.
