Hideki Matsuyama will be aiming for a strong season-ending performance on the PGA Tour in the upcoming Tour Championship, setting aside the disappointment of last week’s BMW Championship where he settled for joint third place for the second successive year.
The Japanese star finished two shots behind winner Jon Rahm who triumphed at Olympia Fileds after producing a glorious 66-feet birdie putt for a playoff win over Dustin Johnson. Matsuyama entered the final day tied for the overnight lead with Johnson but a closing 1-under 69 in the penultimate FedExCup Playoffs event left him frustrated in his bid for a sixth PGA Tour victory.
His fifth top-10 of the season pushed the 28-year-old Asian star eight rungs up to 10th place in the FedExCup points list where he will start the Tour Championship at 4-under in the staggered start format. He will be six shots behind Johnson who will begin the season-ending tournament with a 10-under score by virtue of being No 1 on the FedExCup points list.
Birdies on Holes 2, 6 and 15 were offset by bogeys on Holes 3 and 11, due largely to another day of tough scoring. Matsuyama found only seven fairways and 10 greens in regulation during his final round.
“It was a really disappointing result today. But I will reset for next week and try to do my best next week,” said Matsuyama, who qualified for his seventh successive Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta.
“I did a good job of playing patient golf in very tough conditions this week. But I realise my long game needs some refinement to play well at East Lake so I will rest and put in time to practice before next week.”
