“I’m just happy to be next to him”: Hideki Matsuyama’s star-struck replacement caddy can’t stop smiling after Japanese golfing icon lost regular caddy
Taiga Tabuchi is caddying for Hideki Matsuyama at the FedEx St. Jude Championship this weekend. Ordinarily, he caddies for Ryo Hisatsune, but Matsuyama needed a caddie this week. The Japanese golfer is heralded as the best golfer from his country, and he's in top form right now.
Matsuyama's regular caddie was forced to miss the FedEx St. Jude Championship after his passport was stolen during a robbery in London. Tabuchi stepped up and is enjoying his experience with the Paris Olympics bronze medalist.
Tabuchi said:
"It's been awesome. Just being with him. He's like the most famous and best Japanese golf player so far. I'm just happy to be next to him, and just walking with him. I mean, actually, I'm doing nothing. I'm just next to him, carrying the bag, he does everything. Ryo texted me before the week, and he said, 'Just learn from Hideki and be a better caddie.'"
While Tabuchi admitted that he's not doing much to aid the legendary golfer, it's hard not to notice the success they are having together. At the time of writing, Matsuyama held a five-stroke lead over Nick Dunlap at the top of the FedEx St. Jude Championship standings.
He's in the pole position to win this week. A few weeks ago, he earned the bronze medal for Japan at the Paris Olympics. Matsuyama is playing very well and barring a huge change to the leaderboard on Sunday, he will earn another key victory.
Matsuyama has built this lead over top golfers like Viktor Hovland and Scottie Scheffler largely on the back of his putting, which is being done with a brand-new putter. The golfer said (via NBC Sports):
“I’ve had the putter for a while, and I thought it might be a good week to debut that putter."
Hideki Matsuyama has 19 birdies and an eagle to his name across three rounds, which has resulted in a -17 showing so far.
Hideki Matsuyama discusses recent robbery with caddie
Hideki Matsuyama, his original caddie, and his coach were at a restaurant in London last week when they realized they had been robbed. Their bags were all missing. Matsuyama didn't lose as much, but his caddie and coach had their passports stolen.
He said via the PGA Tour:
“It was an unfortunate situation. Luckily, I only lost my wallet, but Shota, my caddie, and my coach, lost their passports, and we're trying hard now to get their visas back in line, and hopefully they can join us as a team as soon as possible.”
Matsuyama went on to say:
“We didn't even know it happened. We were just having a friendly dinner, and Shota was the first one, 'Hey, where is my bag?' Of course, it was frustrating, but we really didn't know it happened. It was just kind of all of a sudden."
It is for this reason that both his coach and caddie are not at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, but his caddie could be back next week for the second round of the playoffs.