Japanese player Hideki Matsuyama won the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship this past weekend. The victory in the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs earned him $3,600,000 and 2000 FedEx Cup points.
Matsuyama led the tournament by five strokes at the end of the third round. Despite two bogeys and a double bogey in the back nine of the final round, he won the tournament by two strokes over Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland.
After the tournament, Matsuyama's emergency caddie Taiga Tabuchi secured the pin flag and bowed to the fans after the former's victory at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee. PGA Tour posted the video of the moment on X (formerly Twitter) and captioned the post:
"An homage to Shota at Augusta. Taiga Tabuchi made sure to secure the pin flag ... and include the bow."
Hideki Matsuyama played in the tournament with Tabuchi after the passport and visa of his caddie Shota Hayato were reportedly stolen while he was returning from the 2024 Paris Olympics. Tabuchi had earlier caddied on Japan's LPGA Tour and now caddies for Ryo Hisatsune.
Hideki Matsuyama used a new putter which helped him win the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship
Hideki Matsuyama used a new putter at TPC Southwind which aided his victory at the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship. He used a Scotty Cameron Squareback Tour Prototype at the tournament. The putter, which was initially "bullet bottom sole," was filled in by Matsuyama.
Talking about his new putter, he said (via PGA Tour):
"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 know the condition of the greens, and I thought this putter might work. It did. I putt it great. And I won."
"For some reason when I was at home in Orlando coming to this tournament, I just started feeling that this putter may work on these greens," he added.
Hideki Matsuyama carded 65, 64, 64, and 70 in the four rounds of the tournament. However, despite the putter helping him at TPC Southwind, he wasn't convinced about using it at the BMW Championship. He said:
"Whether or not I'll use it next week, we'll see. I've never played Castle Pines golf course, and we'll just have to wait and see what the greens are like there before I choose which putter I'll use."
The 2024 BMW Championship is scheduled from August 22 to 25 at Castle Pines Golf Club. Matsuyama, who jumped to third from eighth in FedEx Cup points, will look to win the tournament and bridge the gap between Scottie Scheffler at the top and him.
Let's take a look at Matsuyama's performances in the 2024 season:
2024 OLY Golf (M) Tournaments
- Olympic Men's Golf Competition: 3 (63-68-71-65, 267, -17)
2024 PGA TOUR Tournaments
- The Sentry: 58 (71-68-76-69, 284, -8)
- Sony Open in Hawaii: T30 (70-68-67-66, 271, -9)
- Farmers Insurance Open: T13 (66-71-76-67, 280, -8)
- AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: T71 (75-71-70, 216, E)
- WM Phoenix Open: T22 (69-68-68-70, 275, -9)
- The Genesis Invitational: 1 (69-68-68-62, 267, -17)
- Arnold Palmer Invitational pres. by Mastercard: T12 (67-70-72-76, 285, -3)
- THE PLAYERS Championship: T6 (69-69-68-67, 273, -15)
- Valero Texas Open: T7 (73-70-66-71, 280, -8)
- Masters Tournament: T38 (76-74-71-74, 295, +7)
- PGA Championship: T35 (70-65-70-71, 276, -8)
- the Memorial Tournament pres. by Workday: T8 (73-70-74-70, 287, -1)
- U.S. Open: 6 (72-66-70-70, 278, -2)
- Travelers Championship: T23 (66-69-69-64, 268, -12)
- Genesis Scottish Open: Missed Cut (71-67, 138, -2)
- The Open: T66 (75-72-75-74, 296, +12)
- FedEx St. Jude Championship: 1 (65-64-64-70, 263, -17)