St. Jude is the patron saint of hopeless cases and desperate causes.  The Fed Ex St. Jude Championship may have had invoked the disciple of Jesus at the final round of the first leg of the race to the Tour Championship.  Hideki Matsuyama was cruising to victory as he approached the back nine in the final round with a five shot lead.  After a birdie on 11, he knocked his ball in the water on 12 and ended up in a long discussion with rules officials on the drop, which seemed to interrupt his tempo.  The situation was more complicated since Matsuyama’s regular tour caddie was not on the bag for this event so it would be difficult to depend on a caddie who had never worked for him before.    Following Matsuyama’s bronze medal performance at the Olympics, Matsuyama’s regular tour  caddie was robbed of his wallet, passport and other effects and could not get to the Memphis venue in time.  The long discussion and drop ruling was time consuming and eventually led to a bogey.  A misplay on the par 3, 14th hole with a 7 iron led to another bogey and all of a sudden, the field that seemed too far behind started to move within striking distance.  Xander Schauffle, Viktor Hovland, Nick Dunlap and Sam Burns were all on the chase.  The game started to speed up for Matsuyama on 15 as the heat of the day and the zoysia rough conditions were now becoming issues for him.  His approach shot on 15 found the right rough, and without much hesitation Matsuyama quickly approached the chip and chili-dipped it a yard further into the rough.  Another indifferent chip shot led a 15 foot putt, which he missed.  It seemed as though Matsuyama “lost the plot” as the chip shots reminded me of the behavior of a weekend hacker.  Matsuyama’s  double bogey and Hovland’s birdie on 16 vaulted Hovland into the lead.  A five shot lead had been erased in four holes.  You have to wonder what was going through Matsuyama’s mind but what happened next separates truly great professional golfers.  The meltdown was on and has tormented professional golfers in events that cost them their first tour victory.  The game speeds up at a geometric pace and has to be reined in  to have any chance of recovery.  Matsuyama limped into the 16th tee box and was unable to convert the birdie opportunity that this hole was yielding to the field, but Hovland’s bogey on 17 enabled Matsuyama to get back to a tie for the top spot.  At this point in the tournament, it appeared that a playoff might be in the offing with Matsuyama, Hovland and Schauffle at 15 under par.  Matsuyama was in the short rough with his tee shot and hit an indifferent iron shot to 25 ft. below the flagstick.  However, lightning struck Matsuyama’s balky putter and unexpectedly, the putt  went crashing into the back of the hole enabling Matsuyama to take a one shot lead into the final hole.  Matsuyama’s ability to end the skid after losing the lead and four over par in the last six holes demonstrates an incredible skill of concentration in a pressure situation.  Most players in this condition usually limp to the finish line and aren’t even on camera for the finish.  You could tell that Matsuyama, having retaken the lead, was not going to cede it on the final hole.  His confidence was fully restored and nailed the fairway, connected with a fine iron shot and holed a shorter putt than 17 to win by two shots.  The gods of golf and probably St. Jude were smiling at Matsuyama’s achievement, which demonstrates that he is the best Japanese player ever to play on the PGA Tour by securing his 10th PGA tour victory.

Emotions can be a big factor on the golf course as in life.  Sam Burns missed his tee shot on the 12th hole during the third round and smashed his driver into the ground, which completely destroyed it.  He would have to play the rest of that round without a driver and to finish four shots back.  You wonder what may have happened if he had had that driver for the entire round.  You also have to credit Burns for restoring his cool without the driver and staying competitive for the rest of the event.

Golf,  as in life,  can deal out some tough punishments and you have to persevere and have the confidence to believe in your skill level to get to the victory circle.  Matsuyama overcame a lot of obstacles to accomplish this at the Fed Ex. on Sunday putting him in great position for the Tour Championship at East Lake.