Hideki Matsuyama won the bronze medal in the golf event at the Paris Olympic Games, but was the victim of a theft during a stopover in London on his way to the United States. The Japanese golfer revealed that someone stole his wallet and also took his caddie’s passport and visas, Shota Hayato, and his coach, Mikihito Kuromiya, who had no choice but to return to Japan and reapply for the documents to be able to accompany him in the playoffs of the FedEx Cup.
At the moment, neither of them is in Memphis, where the FedEx St. Jude Championship kicked off yesterday, the first event of these final series of the PGA Tour. “We didn’t even know it had happened,” confessed Hideki. “We were having dinner quietly and Shota was the first to say: ‘Hey, where’s my bag?’. Of course it was frustrating, but we really didn’t know what had happened. It was sudden. Whoever it was, they grabbed it and ran off,” he added.
“There is a chance they will get to Colorado, but we have to think that it is close to zero,” said the player regarding the option that they can already be with him at the BMW Championship next week. “So I will try to play golf as if I were again the one I was before having a coach, that all the responsibility falls on me,” he added. Matsuyama has hired Taiga Tabuchi for this week, caddie of the professional from the Japanese circuit Ryo Hisatsune, to replace him as caddie in the absence of Hayato.
“I’m glad he accepted. He has worked with Hisatsune this year, so I think he knows the ins and outs and can speak English, there’s no doubt I can trust him,” explained the Japanese golfer. Hideki won this season’s Genesis Invitational in February and arrives at these final series of the American circuit in the eighth position of the FedEx Cup. They stole his wallet (luckily they had already paid the bill…), but not the bronze medal… nor his chances of fighting to be the best of the season on the PGA Tour.
