Joe McConnell
Hideki Matsuyama saw his five-shot lead evaporate in four holes before two late birdies earned him a nervy two-shot victory in the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
The event is part of the PGA Tour’s season-ending playoffs, with only the top 50 overall players advancing to next week’s BMW Championship and guaranteed entry into all of next year’s $20 million exclusive events.
England’s Justin Rose was one of the unlucky outs, finishing 55th after a final-round 71 that saw him finish six-under for the week and tied for 22nd at the TPC Southwind in Memphis.
The 50th and final spot went to U.S. Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley, who was expected to be just outside the limit for much of Sunday.
Norwegians Viktor Hovland (tied for second), Nick Dunlap (tied for fifth) and Eric Cole (tied for 18th) all cracked the top 50 with impressive late rounds, particularly Cole, who hit a 63 to share the lowest round tied with Xander Schauffele and Max Greyserman, who were seven under.
Meanwhile, Tom Kim, Mackenzie Hughes and Jake Knapp dropped out of the top 50, while Rose remained five places behind in 55th place.
Kim was poised to advance until it took him two shots to get out of a greenside bunker on the par-5 16th hole, setting up a bogey, double-bogey, double-bogey finish that left him tied for 51st and just outside the qualifying spot.
Meanwhile, atop the FedEx St. Jude leaderboard, Matsuyama finished at 17-under par, two shots better than Schauffele and Viktor Hovland, despite a big scare on the final nine holes.
Matsuyama had a five-shot lead on Sunday, the largest 54-hole lead of his career, but faltered in the closing stages.
After playing his first 11 holes at two under par, he faced a series of bogeys, pars, bogeys and double bogeys from the 12th to the 15th, allowing Schauffele and Hovland to briefly overtake him.
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Schauffele was eight under — nine shots behind Matsuyama — to start his round. He made his charge with a bogey-free round and nearly chipped in off the green on the 18th to make the final hole even tougher for Matsuyama.
But Matsuyama ultimately secured the victory with back-to-back birdies on the 17th and 18th holes, the latter despite it being the most difficult hole on the course.
This is Matsuyama’s 10th career PGA Tour title, which he won after a pre-tournament robbery in London that left him without his caddie and coach, who lost their passports in the robbery and had to return to Japan.
World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (66) finished alone in fourth at 14 under.
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