Hideki Matsuyama held what appeared to be an insurmountable lead entering Sunday's final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship. He led by five strokes over Nick Dunlap, with superstars Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele even further back.
Viewers at home likely lost interest at some point, as the Japanese pro seemed to be cruising to his second victory of the season. Matsuyama won the Genesis Invitational earlier this year. Through 11 holes, the 10-time PGA Tour winner was 2-under for the round and playing well.
That is when the wheels fell off.
Matsuyama bogeyed 12 and 14, then doubled 15.
“After the 14th hole, I was still two up, but I knew Viktor [Hovland] and Xander were playing 15, 16 ahead of me. I figured they would both get to 16-under. So when I was playing the 16th hole and looked at the scoreboard, sure enough, they were both at 16-under and I was a stroke back” Matsuyama said through his interpreter.
“I felt today's victory slipping away at that point because 17 and 18 are difficult holes enough, let alone to birdie them.”
Yet, that is exactly what he did.
Hovland bogeyed 17 and all three men were tied at 15-under as Matsuyama played the penultimate hole.
“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. I knew if I could keep it in the fairway at 17, I'd have a chance.”
Matsuyama's tee shot left him in the rough, but with a decent lie. He hit a solid approach and left himself with a birdie putt.
“I putted well all week, and I thought, well, I did it before, let's do it again. Then 18 was just gravy, I guess.”
Hideki Matsuyama's composure vaults him up FedEx Cup Playoff standings
With the win, Matsuyama moved all the way up to number three on the FedEx Cup Playoff standings with 3,899 points. He trails only Scheffler and Schauffele and is more than 1,400 points clear of Collin Morikawa for fourth place. That puts him in prime position to make a run at the PGA Tour Championship.
Following the conclusion of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the top 50 players advance in the FedEx Cup Playoffs to this week's BMW Championship at Castle Pines in Denver, CO. Sunday evening, the top 30 left standing will head to Atlanta for the Tour Championship.
As it currently sits, the Ehime, Japan native would begin that tournament at 7-under par, three shots behind Scheffler. That certainly is not a bad spot to be, which Matsuyama acknowledged last week. He did, however, point out that Scheffler gets the short end of the stick when it comes to the structure of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
With six wins under his belt, a second Masters title and an Olympic gold medal, Scheffler's couple stroke lead entering a tournament is next to nothing.
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