Hideki Matsuyama’s trip back from the 2024 Paris Olympics didn’t go as planned.
Matsuyama, his caddie and his coach were all robbed in London while they were making the trek back from France to play in this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship — which is the first stop in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Matsuyama’s wallet was stolen, though his passport and new bronze Olympic medal were not taken from him. His caddie, Shota Hayato, and coach, Mikihito Kuromiya, had both their passports and visas stolen from them.
So while Matsuyama continued on to Memphis, both Hayato and Kuromiya had to fly home to Japan. They’ve asked for expedited passports and visas so they can return to the United States and join Matsuyama during the PGA Tour’s playoffs, but it’s unclear when they will be able to do so.
“There’s a chance they’ll make it [to next week’s tournament in Colorado], but we have to go into it thinking it’s close to zero,” Matsuyama told Golf Digest Japan.
“I’m going to play golf as if I went back to the way I was before I had a coach. I feel like all the responsibility is on me.”
Matsuyama will instead have Taiga Tabuchi on the bag for him this week in Tennessee. Tabuchi normally caddies for fellow Japanese golfer Ryo Hisatsune.
“I’m glad he accepted,” Matsuyama said. “He’s worked with Hisatsune this year, so I think he knows the ropes, and he can speak English, so I can rely on him.”
Matsuyama has won nine times in his career on the PGA Tour, including earlier this season at the Genesis Invitational. The former Masters champion won a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics earlier this month, too. He’ll enter this week at TPC Southwind at No. 12 in the Official World Golf Rankings and in eighth in the FedEx Cup Standings.
The top 50 finishers in the field this week will advance to next week’s BMW Championship outside of Denver. Then, the top 30 finishers there will move on to the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta to end the 2024 season.
