Hideki Matsuyama would have found out early on in his back nine on Sunday at the St Jude Championship that the rules officials were looking into a potential violation from earlier in his round.
Hideki Matsuyama appeared to largely be in control at the St Jude Championship, having made eight pars and one birdie before the turn of the final round in Memphis. And a second birdie would follow shortly after.
However, the 32-year-old then seemed to do his best to throw the tournament away, with Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele amongst the players hunting him down. And the 2021 Masters champion was at the centre of a controversial rules decision, with the chief referee approaching Matsuyama on the 12th hole about an incident on the seventh.
Matsuyama seemingly attempted to flatten a pitchmark from his approach shot which appeared to be close to his line as he prepared to chip onto the green.
Hideki Matsuyama reacts to rules controversy during final round of St Jude Championship
He would face no penalty, but Matsuyama would go on to play the next four holes in four over par after being spoken to by the referee. And it was only two birdies on the last two holes which saw him clinch the title to move up to third in the FedEx Cup standings.
It appeared to be a turning point in his round, but speaking on Golf Central, Mastuyama insisted that the discussion with the rules official did not put him off his game.
“It was really a non-issue. They just wanted to check and make sure the rules were kept, which they were. It really didn’t have any affect on me for the rest of the day,” he said.
“If I was worried I did something wrong and was going to be penalised that would have rattled me. But it was really a non-issue so it was fine.”
What was strange about Matsuyama’s run from the 12th
It is hard not to make the connection between what happened on the 12th hole and Matsuyama’s nightmare run. Sunday saw, by far, his worst round of the week with rounds of 65, 64, 64 leading into the final day. He also did not make a single bogey on that stretch of holes all week.
But sight of the finishing line can cause strange things to happen. Few will ever forget what happened when Rory McIlroy was faced with a par putt of less than three feet on the 16th on Sunday at the US Open earlier this year.
So perhaps Matsuyama was always going to stumble before getting his act together on the final two holes. Clearly, he believes that he had no reason to be at all concerned about a possible penalty.
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