Hideki Matsuyama Wins 1st Leg of 2024 FedEx Cup Playoffs
Memphis, TN – Hideki Matsuyama (-17) won the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship. It was his second win of the year after winning the Genesis at Riviera in February. He has kept up an extremely high level of play since then, so the win shouldn’t come as a surprise. Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland finished T3, two strokes back.
Matsuyama appeared to have an unassailable lead during the final round before he brought several players back into it by giving four strokes back to the field on holes 12-15. But he was able to right the ship, making clutch birdies on 17 and 18 to slam the door and move himself up to third in the FedEx Cup standings.
Not much more needs to be said of Schauffele’s career year. The player of the year candidate won two majors and has been a top 10 machine in virtually every other event he’s entered. Hovland, on the other hand, has been poor by his standards. The golf course is an ideal fit for his elite tee to green game and he showed that he may be back to being the player who won the FedEx Cup just over a year ago.
Matsuyama’s week got off to a rough start after his caddie and coach had to go back to Japan after their passports were stolen in London. Hideki used Ryo Hisatsune’s caddie for the week, to great effect.
Scottie Scheffler, who never seemed to really get out of third gear, finished solo fourth at -14.
Nick Dunlap was one of the big winners of the week. Because he wasn’t granted the points for his first win of the year (because he was an amateur at the time) he found himself very much on the bubble. His T5 finish was good enough to move him comfortably up the leaderboard and he will feel strong about his chances of making it to East Lake in his rookie campaign. It’s worth noting that a year ago today he was hoisting the US Amateur trophy.
The bottom of the leaderboard featured just as many, if not more, big names than the top. Rory McIlroy, always a favorite to claim another FedEx Cup, struggled, finishing T68 at a shocking +9. Only Max Homa was worse, finishing the week at +11, a staggering 28 shots worse than the winner. Jordan Spieth also finished T68 and confirmed that he will have surgery on his ailing wrist in the off season.
With only the top 70 in the season long race for the FedEx Cup making the field for this week, there are only 50 spots available for next week’s BMW Championship at Castle Pines in Colorado. While players like Hovland and Dunlap moved up and secured their places in next week’s field, others moved in the opposite direction. Tom Kim ended his season by going +5 in his final three holes, taking a chunk out of one green in frustration on the way.
Hideki Matsuyama What’s In The Bag
Driver: Srixon ZX5 Mk II LS 9.5° (Graphite Design Tour AD DI 8 TX)
3 Wood: TaylorMade Qi10 15° (Graphite Design Tour AD DI 9 TX)
5 Wood: Cobra King RadSpeed Tour 19° (Graphite Design Tour AD DI 10 TX)
Irons: Srixon Z-Forged II 4-P (True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400)
Wedges: Cleveland RTX 4 Forged Prototype 52°-10, 56°-8, 60°-8 (True Temper Dynamic Gold Tour Issue S400)
Putter: Scotty Cameron Prototype
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