Golfer Hideki Matsuyama has revealed the unfortunate details of how he, his caddie and coach were robbed in London after the Olympics.
Matsuyama, 32, won a bronze medal for Japan in Paris and headed to England for an overnight stay afterwards.
But the 2021 Masters champion had his belongings stolen during the trip and said after the FedEx St. Jude Championship that the incident occurred while he was at a restaurant.
He He told reporters in Tennessee that he, his caddie Shota Hayato and coach Mikihito Kuromiya had finished eating when they realized their bags were missing.
“We didn’t even know it had happened,” Matsuyama said through a translator.
Hideki Matsuyama had finished dinner when he, his caddie and his coach were assaulted.
Matsuyama, seen with Tommy Fleetwood (left) and Scottie Scheffler (center), won a bronze medal in Paris
“We were having dinner together and Shota was the first to say to me, ‘Where’s my bag? ‘ Of course it was frustrating, but we didn’t actually know it had happened. It was a sudden thing.”
Matsuyama, who fortunately did not lose his medal in the robbery, added that they did not pursue the attacker.
He finished third in Paris, while American Scottie Scheffler won gold and Britain’s Tommy Fleetwood won a silver medal.
Matsuyama’s wallet was stolen, while his coach and caddie had their passports taken away and returned to Japan to try to remedy the situation.
Matsuyama posted a five-under 65 in the first round of the St. Jude Championship.
“We hope they can join us as a team as soon as possible,” Matsuyama said.
Matsuyama added Thursday that his caddie Hayato has a chance to return for the TOUR Championship on Aug. 29, but said his coach Kuromiya had doubts.
Matsuyama didn’t seem to be affected by the drama, though, as he shot a five-under 65 in the first round.
At the time of writing, he was -10 overall after 12 holes of second round play.
