Hideki Matsuyama’s week started and ended with a lot of stress.
Matsuyama was forced to use a looping par to qualify for the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis after his caddie and coach’s passports were stolen in London, but he seemed unfazed by the incident through the first 54 holes and went into Sunday’s final round five strokes behind.
Matsuyama played the first 11 holes well on Sunday, including a birdie on the par-3 11th to finish at 19 under par, five strokes ahead of Viktor Hovland. But things started to go wrong on the par-4 12th, when PGA Tour chief umpire Gary Young approached Matsuyama to discuss a possible rules violation earlier in the round. Luckily, Young told Matsuyama he hadn’t violated the rules on the par-4 7th. Matsuyama still corrected a pitch mark on the green that appeared to improve his lie on his line of play, resulting in a two-stroke penalty. However, Young and the competition committee determined Matsuyama hadn’t intended to improve his line and so no violation was assessed.
Soon after, Matsuyama three-putted for bogey, his first dropped shot since Saturday’s second hole. The tension was still there two holes later, and the conversation may have continued to have an effect: Matsuyama fell into the water on the par-3 14th hole, and a lead that seemed insurmountable suddenly disappeared.
Matsuyama said about the number 14, “I wasn’t aiming for it.”
“My target was 20 feet left of the pin. I just hit a bad shot.”
A bogey there dropped him to 17 under par overall.
Things just got worse for the 2021 Masters champion. Double bogey on the par-4 15th holeIt was the first time they had lost the lead since early Saturday morning.
“No. 15 wasn’t good. I flared my tee shot to the right. I didn’t want to hit it into the water, it went over the green and I chipped it twice for a double bogey,” Matsuyama said.
“But still, I felt like I had three holes left so I still had a chance.”
That was true, but at this point Hovlan was atop the leaderboard, one stroke ahead of Matsuyama with two holes to go. Hovlan had just made a birdie on the 16th hole, but the young Norwegian bogeyed the 17th and missed a great birdie chance on the 18th to finish at 15-under par for a 4-under 66, the winning score at this tournament for the past two years. Xander Schauffele also finished at 15-under par, having shot a 7-under 63 on Sunday to put himself in contention for the win.
Despite Matsuyama being in a tough spot, having lost four strokes through five holes, he still had a chance, and he took advantage of it.
The Japanese player drilled a 26-foot birdie shot to retake the lead on the 17th hole.
“The 17th and 18th holes are difficult enough for even a birdie, so at that point I felt like today’s victory was slipping away,” Matsuyama said.
“But then I was lucky enough to get a birdie on No. 17. I immediately thought, ‘Oh man, that tee shot on No. 18 is going to be tough. I’ve got to keep it in the fairway.’ I’m grateful I was able to do that.”
he Dropped the mic at 18He smashed a dart from 157 yards to six feet for a dramatic and memorable finish, closing out the round with two consecutive birdies that surprised Matsuyama more than the collapse. He didn’t expect to come back like that, but he did it when he needed to.
It will go down in history as Matsuyama’s two-goal victory, but like last week’s chaos in London, it was by no means easy to achieve.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.
