Matsuyama maintains FedEx Playoffs record with flying St Jude finish

Three birdies, an eagle and a closing par were what Japanese superstar Hideki Matsuyama needed to extend his campaign in the FedExCup Playoffs and stay in the fight to keep alive an unbroken streak in his illustrious career.

At the top, US golfer Lucas Glove won his second start in as many weeks with a closing 69 and then needing to survive a playoff on Sunday against Patrick Cantlay (64) at TPC Southwind after both players finished on 15-under 265, one shot ahead of Rory McIlroy (65) and Tommy Fleetwood (68).

Glover, who triumphed at last week’s Wyndham Championship, earned his sixth PGA Tour title with a par in the first extra hole after Cantlay made bogey, and moved up to fourth place in the FedExCup standings after being 112th just two weeks ago.

Forced to wait for an hour and 37 minutes to complete the remaining three holes during a weather suspension in the final round at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis on Sunday, it only ramped up the pressure on Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion.

“I looked and saw what I needed to do on the final three holes. I knew I had to birdie them all. All I knew is I had to make birdies, so I just put my head down and did the best I could,” said Matsuyama. Once play resumed, the 31-year-old duly delivered, and in style.

Back at the par-5 hole 16, he bombed his drive down the fairway before firing a six iron to just outside of nine feet and buried the eagle putt. At the next, he calmly rolled in an 11-foot putt for his fourth birdie of the day to move inside the projected top 50 of the FedEx Cup who will advance to the BMW Championship from the 70 starters at TPC Southwinds.

A stray drive, however, on the demanding hole 18, followed by an approach which landed beyond the final green provided a nervy finish but Matsuyama calmly produced a delicate flop shot which saw his ball land within 19 inches for a tap-in par, thus sealing his place in the second of three Playoffs events.

More importantly, it gave Matsuyama a chance to extend his streak of qualifying for the Tour Championship, the Playoffs Finale, for a 10th straight season which is a record amongst active players.

“Especially at 18, I looked up and saw I was 47th on the FedExCup list, which made that approach shot really difficult. I'm just happy I was able to get it up-and-down (for par),” said Matsuyama, who signed for a closing 65 that sealed a share of 16th place.

“Hopefully I can get some rest before that (BMW Championship) because I've got to play better next week in order to make it to East Lake (venue of the Tour Championship). I'm just going to give it my best shot.”

He was delighted with the scramble for par on the last hole to punch his ticket to the BMW Championship, which takes place at Olympic Fields in Illinois starting on Thursday. “Normally it's a 3, but under the conditions, it was an 8 or 9,” smiled Matsuyama when asked to rate his flop shot from between 1 to 10.

“The number I was hoping for before the round was 7-under, but I didn't play very good, didn't score well the front nine, which was frustrating. I'm just glad I was able to turn it on the last four or five holes.”

Added event-winner Glover of his recent run of form, “If you would have told me this three months ago, I'd tell you you're crazy. But at the same time, if you asked me legitimately did I think I was capable, I'd say yes, even then. It's just one of those sad ways athletes are wired.

“We always believe in ourselves no matter how bad it is I never gave that up, but like middle of May, it was hard to go to the range some days and hard to work. But we pushed through and did it anyway,” Glover added.

Korea’s Sungjae Im finished tied sixth after a bogey-free 68 and rose from 32nd to 28th on the FedEx Cup standings. It was the 25-year-old’s eighth top-10 of the season and puts him in the hunt to qualify for the Tour Championship, restricted to the Top-30 players, for a fifth straight year.

Si Woo Kim, winner of the Sony Open in Hawaii in January, finished tied 16th after a 68 and moved one spot up to 17th in the FedEx Cup race while Tom Kim settled for T24th after a closing 72, dropping four places to 18th on the rankings ahead of the BMW Championship. The fourth Korean in the playoffs, Byeong Hun An, settled for a share of 37th in Memphis, and enters the penultimate Playoffs event in 38th position and looking to qualify for the championship for the first time in his career.

Incidentally, not only did Glover become the eighth multiple winner this season behind Jon Rahm (4), Keegan Bradley, Wyndham Clark, Tony Finau, Max Homa, Rory McIlroy, and Scottie Scheffler (two each), but he was also the first 40-plus player to win back-to-back tournaments since Vijay Singh in 2008 (2008 FedEx St. Jude Championship, 2008 Deutsche Bank Championship).