Matsuyama scripts Asian history with St. Jude Championship victory

Japanese superstar Hideki Matsuyama became the first Asian golfer to win a FedEx Cup playoffs event beating Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland by two strokes in a hard-fought result at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first of three playoffs event, in Memphis on Sunday. 

The 32-year-old picked up his second title of the season and a 10th PGA Tour career victory, thanks to two closing birdies at TPC Southwind in Memphis as he overcame a back nine wobble that saw an overnight five-shot lead turn into a one-shot deficit after dropping four strokes over as many holes.

With a new putter in hand, he rolled in a crucial 26-foot birdie putt on the 17th green to restore his lead and then knocked his approach to six feet for a final birdie and cement his stature as Asia’s winningest player on tour.

“I'm especially happy to be able to win one of the FedEx Cup Playoff series tournaments. I've tried hard for 10 years, and it's a great feeling of satisfaction to finally be able to have done it,” said Matsuyama through his interpreter.

The result moved Matsuyama to third place in the points list with the BMW Championship and Tour Championship to come over the next fortnight. He is seeking to rewrite more golf history as no Asian golfer has won the FedEx Cup, since its launch in 2007.

A bronze medallist at the recent Paris Olympics, Matsuyama credited a new putter in the bag, and stand-in caddie, Taiga Tabuchi, for his stellar week in Memphis. His regular caddie Shota Hayafuji and coach Mikihito Kuromiya were forced to return to Japan to sort out their travel documents after losing their passports during a stopover in London following the Olympics. Hayafuji will be back on Matsuyama’s bag at the BMW Championship.

“Coming into Memphis, I felt like I needed a change of pace, kind of a refresh with my putter. I thought about the putters I had, and I felt - because I knew this course. I knew the condition of the greens. I thought this putter might work, and it did. I putted great, and I won,” said Matsuyama, who ranked first in Strokes Gained: Putting through four rounds – a stark contrast to his 133rd ranking before the week started.

“First time I've worked with him (Tabuchi). On the course, you have a routine, but with a new caddie, that routine changes, and so we were working through that all week. But he was a great help to me. Helped me read a lot of putts. A lot of good lines that he gave me.”

With Schauffele, who has won two majors this season charging up the leaderboard following a closing 63, and reigning champion Hovland making a move before bogey on 17 saw him sign for a 66, Matsuyama made life difficult for himself over the back nine. He three-putted on 12 for his first bogey of the day, found water with his tee shot into the par-3 14th hole and then made a double bogey on 15 with some errors.

“After the 14th hole, I was still two up, but I knew Viktor and Xander were playing 15, 16 ahead of me. 15 was not good. I flared my tee shot to the right and I didn't want to hit it in the water, so I ended up hitting it over the green, taking two chips and ended up with a double bogey. But still, I felt I had three holes left, and so I felt like I still had a chance,” he said.
 
“I felt today's victory slipping away at that point because 17 and 18 are difficult holes. But I was fortunate enough to birdie 17. I drew from this entire week's putting, and I thought, well, I did it before, let's do it again. Immediately I thought, oh, man, this is going to be a tough tee shot at 18. I've got to keep it in the fairway. I'm grateful I was able to do it. 18 was just gravy, I guess.”

Korea’s Byeong Hun An (69) finished T33 to advance into the BMW Championship, limited to the top-50, in 15th position on the points list and will be joined by compatriots Sungjae Im who finished T40 for 10th place on the points list. Si Woo Kim ended his week in T50 and will start the penultimate Playoffs event in 44th  but Joohyung ‘Tom’ Kim closed with a 71 for T50 in Memphis and dropped out of contention for the BMW Championship by one place.

World no. 1 and Paris Olympic winner Scottie Scheffler, who has won six times this season, was fourth, three shots behind Matsuyama, and remained top of the points list, with Schauffele in second place. Sunday’s result was Scheffler’s  11th top-five finish in 17 starts this season and he leads Schauffele by 1,496 points

Eleven players will make their debut at this week’s BMW Championship – Ludvig Åberg (no. 7), Robert MacIntyre (12), Akshay Bhatia (13), Matthieu Pavon (20), Aaron Rai (21), Davis Thompson (26), Stephan Jaeger (35), Austin Eckroat (38), Thomas Detry (40), Max Greyserman (47), and Nick Dunlap (48).