Hideki Matsuyama has withdrawn from the 2024 BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado, surprising the golf world after an opening 5-under 67 in the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs.
According to the PGA Tour, Matsuyama withdrew with a lower-back injury and attributed this statement to him:
"I am disappointed to have to withdraw from the BMW Championship after experiencing lower back discomfort while warming up this morning, which made it impossible to play. Thank you to BMW and the Western Golf Association for a great experience here at Castle Pines."
Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters champion, was a shot behind the lead of Keegan Bradley after Day 1, leading observers to think the Japanese star was well positioned to earn a second-consecutive playoff win after taking last week's FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis.
Instead, Matsuyama is no longer in the 50-player tournament and could cost himself positioning in the FedEx Cup standings heading into the Tour Championship next week at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. Heading into the second leg of the playoffs, Matsuyama was in third place, behind Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele.
The top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings at the end of the BMW Championship move onto the season-ending Tour Championship, where the winner will earn the $25 million first-place prize from the $100 million FedEx Cup bonus pool. Those top 30 players will have their position in the standings translated into starting strokes at East Lake, and being in the top five in the standings give a player the best chance to win the title, which combines a player's starting strokes with their 72-hole scoring total at the Atlanta host club.
In third place at the moment, Matsuyama would start on 7 under and sit three shots back of current leader Scottie Scheffler, who would start on 10 under par.
It has been a trying several weeks for Matsuyama, who was robbed in a London airport after winning the Olympic bronze medal in Paris. His caddie and coach were also robbed, including of their travel documents, which forced them back to Japan to have them reissued.
