Kirk makes an ace and leads St. Jude. Matsuyama right behind with new caddie and no coach

Chris Kirk hits from a sand trap on the 18th hole during the first round of the St. Jude Championship golf tournament Thursday in Memphis, Tenn. (AP)
Short Url
Updated 16 August 2024
Follow

Kirk makes an ace and leads St. Jude. Matsuyama right behind with new caddie and no coach

  • The surprise in some respects was Matsuyama

MEMPHIS, Tennessee: Hideki Matsuyama lost his wallet in London and lost his caddie and coach for the start of the FedEx Cup playoffs from thieves who snatched their bag.

None of that seemed to bother the Japanese star Thursday to start the PGA Tour’s postseason.

Chris Kirk made a hole-in-one on his way to a 6-under 64 for a one-shot lead in the FedEx St. Jude Championship. Olympic gold medalist Scottie Scheffler and double major winner Xander Schauffele, the best two players in golf, were right in the mix as expected.

The surprise in some respects was Matsuyama, the Olympic bronze medalist who has had plenty of distractions since leaving Paris and still motored around the TPC Southwind on a sweltering day for a 65.

“I’ve forgotten it completely. It’s not even an issue now,” Matsuyama said through his interpreter.

He stopped over in London with caddie Shota Hayato and his swing coach, Mikihito Kuromiya. They were having dinner in town when Matsuyama said his caddie noticed the bag was no longer there. The contents included Matsuyama’s wallet, the passports of Hayato and Kuromiya. Matsuyama had left his passport — and his bronze medal — in his hotel room.

“It was an unfortunate situation,” Matsuyama said. “Luckily, I only lost my wallet, but Shota, my caddie, and the coach, lost their passports, and we’re trying hard now to get their visas back in line. And, hopefully, we can join as a team as soon as possible.”

In the meantime, he lined up Taiga Tabuchi, who had been caddying on the Japan LPGA recently and had worked with Ryo Hizatsune on the PGA Tour earlier this year.

New caddie, same old Hideki. The former Masters champion has been building momentum over the last month. After hitting into the water and taking bogey on the par-5 third hole, he answered with plenty of birdies — four in a five-hole stretch on the back nine, for a 65.

“My job is the same. It’s just play golf,” Matsuyama said. “I talk to my coach every night on the phone. I’ve got a great caddie — Taiga did a great job today. So we’ll just see how it goes.”

Hayato hopes to be back on the bag at the Tour Championship. Matsuyama is No. 8 in the FedEx Cup and assured of being there.

That isn’t the case for Kirk, who is No. 28 in the standings. The top 50 after this week advance to the BMW Championship outside Denver, and then the top 30 from there go to Atlanta.

Kirk had taken the early lead with a birdie on the 12th when he pulled 6-iron — a perfect club considering a heat index that topped 100 degrees (38 Celsius) that made the ball go a little bit farther. It landed in front of the pin and rolled in like a putt for an ace.

“I was looking a little further left than that with water on the right, but as soon as I hit it, I hit it just how I wanted to,” Kirk said. “Looked up, saw it started a touch right but was drawing right back to it. Yeah, nice bonus.”

He left one opportunity out there by needing two chips to reach the green on the par-5 16th, the easiest hole at the TPC Southwind, and a drive into a bunker on the 18th kept him from reaching the green and led to his only bogey of the round.

Taylor Pendrith of Canada and Matthieu Pavon of France, both first-time winners on the PGA Tour this year, joined Matsuyama at 65.

The large group at 66 included Scheffler and Schauffele, who have combined for three of the four majors, eight PGA Tour titles and just over $44 million in earnings this year.

Schauffele started with three straight birdies, cooled slightly and picked up a late birdie on the 16th for a bogey-free round. Scheffler had four birdies through six holes, his lone bogey coming on a poor greenside bunker shot on the 12th.

Friends in the first place, they grew a little closer through three days of practice rounds and some money games at Le Golf National leading to the Olympics. Schauffele shared the 54-hole lead at the Olympics. Scheffler closed with a 62 and won the gold.

“It’s fun competing with your friends, but we want to beat up on each other,” Scheffler said. “So it’s a lot of fun playing with the best players and competing.”

Justin Rose (No. 55) and Ben Griffin (No. 56) got off to ideal starts in their bid to get into the top 50 and keep their seasons going, both part of the group at 66.

Jordan Spieth is No. 63 and opened with a 62, making two bogeys from the fairway on the back nine that slowed his progress.


Man City fight back to end Anfield hoodoo and reel in Arsenal

Updated 08 February 2026
Follow

Man City fight back to end Anfield hoodoo and reel in Arsenal

  • Victory was City’s first away to Liverpool in front of a crowd since 2003 and reapplies some pressure to Arsenal’s quest for a first title in 22 years

LIVERPOOL: Erling Haaland’s stoppage-time penalty earned Manchester City a dramatic 2-1 win at Liverpool on Sunday to reduce Arsenal’s lead at the top of the Premier League back to six points.
City were heading for defeat at Anfield with six minutes to go before Bernardo Silva canceled out Dominik Szoboszlai’s stunning free-kick to spark an incredible finale.
Haaland put City in front from the spot before the visitors had another goal ruled out and Szoboszlai was sent off in the same incident after a VAR review.
Victory was City’s first away to Liverpool in front of a crowd since 2003 and reapplies some pressure to Arsenal’s quest for a first title in 22 years.
Defeat delivered another blow to Liverpool’s hopes of Champions League football next season.
The defending champions remain down in sixth and four points adrift of the top five.
These two clubs have combined to win the last eight Premier League titles, but both showed the flaws which have opened the door for Arsenal to potentially end their long wait to be crowned champions of England once again.
Haaland has scored just once from open play in his last 13 games and an uncharacteristic lack of confidence from the Norwegian showed with the best chance of the first half inside the opening two minutes.
Silva’s clever pass split the Liverpool defense, but Haaland’s shot lacked conviction under pressure from Milos Kerkez, and Alisson Becker was able to save low to his left.
Haaland hooked another effort straight at Alisson among 10 first half City attempts without a breakthrough.

Guehi booed

Second half slumps have been a consistent feature of City’s season and the visitors again faded in the second period until a late flurry saved their title challenge.
Hugo Ekitike should have opened the scoring when he completely miscued his header just before the hour mark after a lightning fast Liverpool break.
Marc Guehi was relentlessly booed after his proposed move to Liverpool from Crystal Palace broke down on transfer deadline day in September.
City took advantage to swoop in last month when they lost two key center-backs to injury.
Guehi was fortunate to escape with just a yellow card when he dragged down Mo Salah just outside the box.
But it was City who were left fuming at the award of the free-kick which led to the opener when Ryan Gravenberch went down under minimal contact.
Szoboszlai scored the only goal with an outrageous free-kick when Arsenal visited Anfield in August and produced another stunning strike which clipped the inside of the post before finding the net.
However, the Hungarian went from hero to villain when City levelled six minutes from time.
Szoboszlai played Silva onside as he slid in to volley home Haaland’s header for City’s first second half goal in the Premier League this year.
Alisson then wiped out Matheus Nunes to concede a penalty and Haaland kept his cool from the spot to put City in front.
Pep Guardiola’s men still needed a stunning save from Gianluigi Donnarumma to tip behind Alexis Mac Allister’s deflected shot.
With Alisson remaining forward from the resulting corner, the Liverpool goal was open when Rayan Cherki took aim from the halfway line to roll the ball into an empty net.
However, Haaland and Szoboszlai’s grappling as the ball trickled toward the goal saw the strike ruled out, with a free-kick awarded to City instead, and the Liverpool player given his marching orders.