Hideki Matsuyama recovers from blowing big lead, hangs on to win FedEx St. Jude Championship

Hideki Matsuyama blew a big lead but he recovered to birdie the final two holes and edge Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele by two strokes and win the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship.

The Japanese star had his wallet stolen earlier in the week and didn’t have his coach or caddie, who had their passports lifted in the theft, at his disposal but it didn’t bother his game. He changed putters and had his best putting week of the season, closing in even-par 70 at TPC Southwind in Memphis on Sunday.

Matsuyama built a five-stroke lead, the largest 54-hole lead on the Tour this season, but still took three putters to the practice green on Sunday morning. He elected to stick with the Scotty Cameron putter that had treated him so well since he stuck it in the bag this week.

“I’ve had the putter for a while, and I thought, well, it might be a good week to debut that putter,” Matsuyama said. “But I might change putters tonight even.”

He opened with seven straight pars before he buried a 39-foot birdie putt at No. 8 and a 19-foot birdie putt at No. 11 and looked to be coasting to the title that he lost in a playoff three years ago. Matsuyama played his first 65 holes in 19 under and then the next five in 4 over, including a double bogey at 15th that cost him the lead to Hovland.

Matsuyama, who won the bronze medal two weeks ago, then sank a 26-foot birdie putt at 17 to regain the lead and hit a beauty at 18 to 6 feet to seal his 10th career PGA Tour title.

Schauffele trailed Matsuyama by nine strokes to start the day but birdied four of the first six holes and shot a bogey-free 7-under 63.

“It was a head-down day,” Schauffele said. “You’re so far back.”

It’s been a disappointing year for Hovland, who had recorded just one top-10 finish this season. He needed to jump into the top 50 this week to advance to the BMW Championship otherwise he would’ve been the first player not to defend his title at the BMW. He made a bogey at 17 and missed a 9-foot birdie putt in his bid to win the third straight FedEx Cup playoff event dating to last year. Still, he vaulted to No. 16 in the FedEx Cup season-long standing and will have a chance to defend his title at the Tour Championship in two weeks.

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who will remain in the lead in the FedEx Cup, drained a 41-foot birdie putt at 18 to shoot 66 and finish fourth.

“I put up a good fight this week,”Scheffler said. “I tried to make my way up the leaderboard, but I just wasn’t able to do it.”

The top 50 finishers in the FedEx Cup advance to the BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado. Eric Cole and Nick Dunlap joined Hovland as the three players who moved into the top 50 while Tom Kim, Mackenzie Hughes and Jake Knapp were the three players to drop out.