Hideki Matsuyama WD from BMW Championship with back injury

Hideki Matsuyama was arguably the hottest player in the world in August.

Less than three weeks ago, the 32-year-old received a bronze medal at the Paris Olympics. then he was robbed – literally (!) – and won his next tournamentFedEx St. Jude last week, launching him up to third on the PGA Tour FedEx Cup Points List.

And after a round this week BMW Championship at Castle Pines Golf Club in Colorado, Matsuyama was tied for second after shooting a five-under 67 on Thursday.

But before reaching the 2nd round, Matsuyama suddenly withdrew from the tournament, citing a lower back injury.

Fortunately for Matsuyama, the withdrawal will not affect his current FedEx Cup points. The best he could have done this week would have been to catch second-ranked player Xander Schauffele. Matsuyama is currently projected to remain in third place, even after receiving zero points for this week’s tournament.

Scottie Scheffler is the top-ranked player in the playoff field and Schauffele would need a win this week to move past him. Only the top 30 players from the FedEx Cup points list will advance to next week’s PGA Tour season finale, the Tour Championship at East Lake.

While missing out on the $3.6 million winner’s share of this week’s $20 million purse while in contention will certainly hit Matsuyama a bit, the desire to be fully healthy for next week’s Tour Championship it is understandable. In East Lake, the winner will win $25 million.

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