A week of promise ended in disappointment for Hideki Matsuyama on Friday as he was forced to withdraw from the BMW Championship with a back injury.
Matsuyama had been among the favorites to win the tournament before withdrawing on Friday.
Schauffele (+400), Scheffler (+500), Scott (+600), Bradley (+1200) and Collin Morikawa (+1200) emerged as the top five live-favorites the moment Matsuyama’s withdrawal was announced.
Matsuyama had been roughly +1800 to win back-to-back tournaments.
It was a stunning development as Matsuyama looked no worse for wear and had been in excellent form. He won the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind Sunday by two strokes over Xander Schauffele and Victor Hovland. He teed off Thursday +1800 to win his second-straight tournament and came out strong, shooting an opening round -5 which had him one shot behind Keegan Bradley (-6) when he went to sleep last night.
So, needless to say, his withdrawal came as a surprise.
Matsuyama entered the BMW Championship third in the FedEx Cup standings behind Scottie Scheffler and Schauffele. He previously won The Genesis Invitational earlier this year and was fresh off an Olympic Bronze medal. Matsuyama will also be a leader of the International Team at next month’s Presidents Cup. His next event on the horizon was scheduled to be next week’s TOUR championship at East Lake Golf Club. Of course, that’s completely up in the air as of now.
