Hideki Matsuyama appears to grimace as he plays a tee shot during the first round of the BMW Championship at Olympia Fields Country Club on August 17, 2023. | Photo by Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Hideki Matsuyama withdrew from the BMW Championship ahead of Friday’s round, thus meaning his 2022-23 season is over.
Hideki Matsuyama has withdrawn from the BMW Championship due to a back injury, thus ending his search for a FedEx Cup title.
He entered the BMW Championship ranked 50th in the FedEx Cup standings, needing a good performance at Olympia Fields to advance to next week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta.
But after carding a 1-over 71 Thursday, Matsuyama’s back pain proved to be too much. His withdrawal means his season is over, as he did not garner enough FedEx Cup points to make it to East Lake.
Hideki Matsuyama is a WD prior to the second round of the BMW Championship with a back injury. Matsuyama had qualified for the TOUR Championship in each of the last nine seasons, the longest active streak of any player.
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) August 18, 2023
Per the PGA Tour, Matsuyama had qualified for the Tour Championship in each of the last nine seasons, the longest streak of any current player.
That is a remarkable stretch, considering the difficulty of the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Nevertheless, Matsuyama has battled injuries for the past couple of years.
He withdrew from the 2022 Players Championship with a nagging back injury. Whether this week’s injury stems from that incident remains to be seen.
Matsuyama also battled a neck injury earlier in 2023, as he withdrew from the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Austin because of his neck.
That neck injury persisted throughout the spring too. He withdrew from the Wells Fargo Championship in May, noting he needed to rest up after tying for 16th at the Masters.
“It’s been a tough spell,” Matsuyama said at the Memorial Tournament in June. “I had an injury on my neck. Distance is down from where it was. But I’m working through it, and hopefully, we’ll have a good summer.”
Matsuyama did rally to play eight events this summer, most recently finishing in a tie for 16th at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
But his back pain must be too substantial to continue, which is unfortunate considering the number of obstacles he has faced over the past couple of years.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.
