MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Hideki Matsuyama lost his wallet, his caddy and his coach at the start of the FedEx Cup playoffs when thieves in London stole his bag of passports, but none of that seemed to worry the Japanese star early Thursday after the PGA Tour season.
Chris Kirk made a hole-in-one on his way to a 6-under 64 for a one-shot lead at FedEx St. Jude Championship. Olympic gold medalist Scottie Scheffler and two-time winner Xander Schauffele, two of the best players in golf, were standing together as expected.
Something of a surprise was Matsuyama, the Olympic bronze medalist who has had many distractions since leaving Paris and was still cruising around TPC Southwind on a hot 65.
“I’ve completely forgotten about it. It doesn’t matter now,” Matsuyama said through his interpreter.
He stopped in London with caddy Shota Hayato and his tennis coach, Mikihito Kuromiya. They were having dinner in the city when Matsuyama said his bag noticed that the bag was gone. The contents included Matsuyama’s wallet, and Hayato and Kuromiya’s passports. Matsuyama had left his passport — and the bronze medal — in his hotel room.
“It was an unfortunate situation,” said Matsuyama. “Fortunately, I only lost my wallet, but Shota, my coach, and the trainer, lost their passports, and we are trying hard now to get their visas back in line. And, hopefully, we can join as a team as soon as possible.”
During that time, he teamed up with Taiga Tabuchi, who had been playing the LPGA of Japan recently and had worked with Ryo Hisatsune on the PGA Tour earlier this year.
New card, same old Hideki. The 2021 Masters champion has been building momentum over the past month. After getting in the water and bogeying the par-5 third hole, he responded with more birdies — four in five holes on the extended back nine, for a 65.
“My job is the same. Just playing golf,” said Matsuyama. “I talk to my coach every night on the phone. I have a great caddy — Taiga did a great job today. So we’ll see how it goes.”
Hayato hopes to return to the bag at the Tour Championship, with Matsuyama at No. 8 in the FedEx Cup and you’re guaranteed to be there.
Not so for Kirk, who is number 28 in the standings. The top 50 after this week will advance to the BMW Championship outside of Denver, and the top 30 from there will go to Atlanta.
Kirk took the lead with a birdie on the 12th when he pulled in a 6-iron — a perfect club considering the 100-degree heat index slowed the ball. It landed in front of the pin and rolled like an ace putt.
“I was looking to the left rather than the water on the right, but when I hit it, I hit it the way I wanted,” said Kirk. “I looked up, I saw that it started to touch well but it comes back to it. Yes, a good bonus.”
He missed one opportunity there by needing two chips to reach the green on the par-5 16th, the easiest hole at TPC Southwind, and a drive into the under par on the 18th prevented him from reaching the green and led to only his bogey. of the round.
Canada’s Taylor Pendrith and France’s Matthieu Pavon, who both won for the first time on the PGA Tour this year, joined Matsuyama at 65.
The top 66 group included Scheffler and Schauffele, who combined for three of four majors, eight PGA Tour titles and just over $44 million in earnings this year.
Schauffele started with three straight birdies, cooled off a bit and picked up a late birdie on the 16th for a bogey-free round. Scheffler had four birdies in six holes, his lone bogey coming from the low green on the 12th.
Friends from the beginning, they grew a little closer during the three days of practice and some money games at Le Golf National leading up to the Olympics. Schauffele shared the 54-hole lead at the Olympics. Scheffler closed with a 62 and won the gold.
“It’s fun to compete with your friends, but we want to beat each other,” said Scheffler. “So it’s great to play with the best players and compete.”
Justin Rose (No. 55) and Ben Griffin (No. 56) are off to a good start in their quest to break into the top 50 and continue their seasons, both tied for 66.
Jordan Spieth is No. 63 and opened with a 68, making two bogeys from the fairway on the back nine that slowed his progress.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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