When Hideki Matsuyama sank a 40-foot putt on the 8th hole at TPC Southwind and a 20-foot putt on the 11th to protect his five-shot lead, he seemed on his way to a stunning victory. At the time, the Olympic bronze medalist’s chances of winning the FedEx St. Jude Championship were 96.5 percent, according to DataGolf. Then the disintegration began.

The 32-year-old shot bogey, par, bogey, double – with a water ball and two chunk chips – to drop to 15 under par for the tournament. The collapse brought Viktor Hovland, Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns and Nick Dunlap into play within 30 minutes. The tournament, which looked like Matsuyama’s victory from the start, was suddenly anyone’s to win.

Despite all the chaos, Matsuyama somehow managed to prevail. The 10-time PGA Tour winner shot a final-round 70 to win the first FedEx Cup playoff event. Schauffele and Hovland tied for second at 15 under par, two shots behind Matsuyama, and Scottie Scheffler finished fourth at 14 under par.

Matsuyama rebounded from his Sunday mistake with two birdies on holes 17 and 18. He sank two more putts – once again relying on the new Scotty Cameron putter he only brought into play this week – to claim his second PGA Tour victory of 2024. Matsuyama ranked first in the strokes gained by putting category through four rounds, gaining an impressive 8.2 strokes on the field over the course of the week.

Matsuyama’s victory at the Genesis Invitational in February was his first in three years. Now Matsuyama will move up five spots in the FedEx Cup standings and enter the second week of the PGA Tour playoffs as the No. 3 seed behind Scheffler (No. 1) and Schauffele (No. 2).

Birdie-birdie finish seals the deal!
@HidekiOfficial_ takes his second win of the season @FedExChamp 🏆🏆 pic.twitter.com/edkX5k5alx

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) 18 August 2024

But Matsuyama’s dramatic collapse means a lot of work for him in the run-up to the BMW Championship – including adapting to an unfortunate situation.

Matsuyama began the week in an unusual way, entering the tournament grounds in Memphis without his entire team. On the way back from the Olympic golf competition, the former Masters champion and his team were robbed at a restaurant in London. A bag containing Matsuyama’s wallet and the passports and visas of his coach and caddy were stolen. Shota Hiyato, Matsuyama’s caddy, and Mikhito Kuromiya, his swing coach, had to return to Japan to replace their passports and could not make it to TPC Southwind with Matsuyama. Fortunately, Matsuyama’s passports – and his Olympic medal – were kept safe in his hotel room. Matsuyama used a backup caddy in Memphis, Taiga Tabuchi. Tabuchi is the former caddy of Japan’s Ryo Hisatsune.

“My job is the same,” Matsuyama said Thursday. “I just play golf. I talk to my coach on the phone every night. I have a great caddy … I completely forgot about that. Now it’s not even an issue.”

Although he ignored the setback earlier in the week, Matsuyama’s unusual situation may have contributed to his difficulties on the back nine. While he would normally have relied on Hiyato’s experience and familiarity, the Japanese pro had a caddie who was still learning the intricacies of his game.

“When you have a new caddie and you try to figure things out together, there’s a learning curve,” Matsuyama said Saturday. “But it hasn’t really affected my game. We’re a good team right now.”

Memphis also marked a continuation of consistent play from Schauffele and Scheffler, in addition to a positive turn of events for Hovland. Hovland needed a moment of inspiration this week after starting the tournament ranked 57th in the FedEx Cup standings, in danger of missing out on the BMW and not automatically qualifying for next year’s major events. But with a final-round 66, Hovland shot up the leaderboard and points list, rising to 16th.

Who is out of the playoffs?

Jordan Spieth’s 2024 season is over. The three-time major champion finished tied with Rory McIlroy in 68th place in the 70-man field, two strokes ahead of Max Homa, who finished last at 11 over par. After completing his round, Spieth immediately told the media that he would need surgery on his injured left wrist.

“I need to get surgery as soon as possible,” Spieth told reporters in Memphis, including the Associated Press, after shooting a 2-over 74. “And then I’ll go through the process of what to do from there.”

Spieth’s wrist has been injured since before the 2023 PGA Championship. He has tried non-surgical treatments since the problem began, but his condition has not improved. Spieth told reporters that he has a torn tendon sheath that holds his wrist tendon in place.

Tom Kim’s season also ends after St. Jude. The 22-year-old rising star finished his Sunday round in Memphis with a bogey and two consecutive double bogeys, causing him to plummet in the FedEx Cup standings and slip out of the top 50. The costly mistakes mean that Kim will not be exempt from the eight most important events on the PGA Tour in 2025. He finished the tournament in 51st place overall.

“This season has just been — it’s just been that way,” Kim said. “I played really good golf and then had some tough finishes. I feel like 2024 really kicked my butt. But I’ve gotten so much better. I fought really hard to get myself into this situation. I was over 90 before we had this run and it looks like I’m going to miss by a point. But it is what it is.”

Required reading

(Photo: Mike Mulholland/Getty Images)