WATCH: Hideki Matsuyama drains a 73-footer putt for birdie at BMW Championship
Hideki Matsuyama's good form from the FedEx St. Jude Championship seems to have carried over to the BMW Championship. At the time of writing, Matsuyama was tied for fifth and playing fairly well. That scoreline was aided heavily by a tremendous putt on the fourth hole.
73 feet is not a standard putting distance. It happened to be on the green, which allowed Matsuyama to even putt it to begin with. With a downhill slope, Matsuyama calmly sent the ball rolling toward the pin.
It just kept angling towards the hole, which still had the pin in it. The ball perfectly rolled right over top and into the hole, clanging the pin on the way down. The birdie elicited a rousing cheer from the crowd watching.
Hideki Matsuyama claimed an impressive victory at the FedEx St. Jude Championship last week, propelling him to third overall in the standings. That means he's well within range of moving on to next week's Tour Championship.
The live projection keeps him in third place, so he's done nothing to lose his standing so far. He'd have to fall pretty far to drop outside the top 30, which means he will most likely play again next week.
The FedEx Cup begins with 70 players, and then the top 50 move on. The top 30 from the BMW Championship move on and have staggered placements for the Tour Championship, so a quality performance would go a long way for Matsuyama if he's able to keep up the performance from early in the first round.
Hideki Matsuyama discusses FedEx St. Jude Championship win
With all the stars of the PGA Tour in the field for last week's tournament, Hideki Matsuyama built up a five-shot lead. That lead evaporated before Matsuyama earned his tenser-than-it-should-have-been victory.
He said after the round via CNN:
“I was fortunate enough to birdie 17. Immediately, I thought, ‘Oh, man, this is going to be a tough tee shot at 18. I’ve got to keep it in the fairway.’ I’m grateful I was able to do it.”
Matsuyama struggled particularly on the 14th and 15th holes before making a birdie on the 17th to help secure his victory. He had come in as a bit of a longshot, +3000 odds by CBS Sports. That was behind Scottie Scheffler, Xander Schauffele, and five other golfers.
Entering the BMW Championship, Hideki Matsuyama was again not the top favorite (CBS Sports):
- Scottie Scheffler +320
- Xander Schauffele +650
- Rory McIlroy +1000
- Collin Morikawa +1200
- Viktor Hovland +1800
- Ludvig Aberg +1800
- Hideki Matsuyama +1800
So far, he has played well and could defy the odds once more and head into the Tour Championship on a high note.