Hideki Matsuyama clinched his 10th PGA Tour win after emerging victorious from the St Jude Championship.
Scottie Scheffler says Matsuyama is playing ‘fantastic golf’, with the latter winning the St Jude Championship by two shots.
Matsuyama almost blew his title, however, with his final round five-shot lead disappearing over four holes.
The Japanese star saw Xander Schauffele and Viktor Hovland briefly pass him on the back nine, but Matsuyama recovered with birdies in his final two holes.
But there was other drama in his final round, with a rules official approaching Matsuyama as he headed to the 12th hole.
Golf fans angry after Hideki Matsuyama incident at the St Jude Championship
It related to the 32-year-old having stepped on a pitch mark off the green on the seventh, but video evidence showed the pitch mark was around three feet off his line of play, meaning Matsuyama wasn’t penalised.
The intervention from the PGA Tour angered many golf fans, with one X user saying: “Hideki Matsuyama has the biggest balls on earth. What a tee shot on 18. That rules official should never of gone up to him you either penalise him or don’t tell him, ridiculous. Praying he gets over the line.”
A second wrote: “If Matsuyama loses this match, then he was robbed by the PGA. A high ranking PGA official should never approach a player unless there is a valid infraction of the rules. Save warnings until after the round.”
A third angry fan said: “How is no one questioning the timing and circumstances of how the rules official came to Hideki Matsuyama?! 7th hole call when he’s performing well? PGA needs to check themselves…”
A fourth commented: “Why would a tour official even ask Matsuyama what his intent was when he stepped a divot mark. All they needed to do was look at tape. Instead they involved themself and rule was not broken.”
A fifth wrote: “The Rules Official decided to inject some drama. Nevertheless, Matsuyama did some serious mental reset and nailed that putt on 17th.”
After Matsuyama’s win, one fan said: “Best player of the week won. He pulled himself together after being put through unnecessary stress by the officials. Classy winner.”
And another noted: “Happy for him. He battled back after a confusing rules official decided he needed to talk to him about a non-violation ruling. Don’t believe I have ever seen that before.”
Hideki Matsuyama recovers to win the St Jude Championship
Matsuyama led by five going into his final round, which represented the largest 54 hole advantage of his career.
That quickly unravelled with his nightmare down the final stretch, but he recovered with two superb birdies on the 17th and 18th.
He finished on 17 under to move into double figures for PGA Tour wins, with Schauffele and Hovland finishing T2.
The superb victory is made even more impressive given that Matsuyama’s caddie and coach were absent after a pre-tournament robbery forced them to return to Japan.
But he wasn’t the only one involved in St Jude Championship controversy, with golf fans angry with Tom Kim after he damaged a green by slamming his putter into the surface after a missed putt.
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