Crisis averted: Hideki Matsuyama blows a huge lead but rallies late to capture his first FedEx Cup playoff title

MEMPHIS — Hideki Matsuyama had to work considerably harder than he expected Sunday to win the FedEx St. Jude Championship, but his wallet is now a lot thicker. Well, you know, if he had a wallet, that is.

on a layover from Paris to the United States, Matsuyama nearly was the victim of another looting at TPC Southwind—and there he was abetting the crime. The Japanese star was cruising with nary a care in the world, aside from maybe deciding how to find a safe place for dinner, but then he got the notion that he should give the boys a fighting chance.

Fortunately, he snapped out of it just in time to salvage a two-stroke victory over Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland to win his 10th PGA Tour title and second of the season to go with his comeback victory at the Genesis Invitational. Birdies on his final two holes broke a tie he helped immensely to create and yielded an even-par 70 and 17-under 263 total, which enabled him to make off with a .

“I'm especially happy to be able to win one of the FedEx Cup playoff series tournaments,” Matsuyama, 32, said through an interpreter. “I've tried hard for 10 years, and it's a great feeling of satisfaction to finally be able to have done it.”

Matsuyama’s victory, which lifts him to seventh in the world rankings, is the product of great play and good karma after what happened to him last week. On his way to the U.S. after winning the bronze medal in the Olympic golf competition in France, Matsuyama had his wallet stolen while finishing up dinner at a downtown London eatery with his caddie, Shota Hayato, and coach Mikihito Kuromiya. The trio had their belongings in a bag, and Hayato and Kuromiya lost their travel documents and were forced to return to Japan.

Stepping in ably this week was Taiga Tabuchi, who formerly caddied for fellow Japanese tour pro Ryo Hisatsune, but more recently has been working on the Japan Tour. Matsuyama said that Hayato has now returned to the States and will be on the bag again at the upcoming BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado.

It’s quite something that Matsuyama gathered himself to win, starting with recovering his composure after the incident in London. Then he had to gather himself on Sunday after letting a five-shot lead, the biggest 54-hole lead of the year on the PGA Tour, slip away.

“Maybe because of that [the robbery], I won this week,” he said.

Where the tournament got interesting and the result very much in doubt was a five-hole stretch from 12 to 16, where Matsuyama was four over par while Schauffele and Hovland played it in three under. And as Matsuyama was making a sloppy double bogey at 15, Hovland was adding his sixth birdie of the day at 16 to get his nose out front at 16 under par. Matsuyama said he felt the tournament “slipping away.”

Schauffele, who began the final round nine behind Matsuyama, tied the day's low round with a 63, but nearly had a 62. He missed the green to the right at 18 and then clanged his birdie pitch shot off the flagstick from 71 feet. “It was a head-down day. You're so far back,” the two-time major winner said. “Hideki was playing some really good golf. I know it's hard to close on this side. Just a lot of trouble everywhere. The wind seems to swirl on a lot of holes. Hard to hit it close and hit fairways. It was more of a head-down, how many good shots can I hit type of deal on my back nine. Happy, obviously, with how I played today. Can't complain.”

Somehow, after chopping up 16 to settle for par and appearing unsteady, Matsuyama finally looked like the guy who had dominated through three rounds. He drilled home a 25-footer for birdie minutes after Hovland bogeyed 17 from a greenside bunker. this week, perhaps another bit of karma, Matsuyama gained more than eight strokes on the greens over 72 holes—best in the field.

Hovland looked poised to get the shot back when he stuck his approach on 18 to nine feet, but the Norwegian’s birdie effort never had a chance, falling weakly to the right. He settled for a 66 to join Schauffele at 265.

Matsuyama finished it off in style, striping it off the tee and rifling an 8-iron approach from 157 yards to five feet, the closest anyone had hit it on the home hole all day. The putt was true. No one was taking this from him.