Associated Press

Hideki Matsuyama’s Caddie Returns Home to Japan after Passport Stolen after Olympics

AP Photo/Matt York
Hideki Matsuyama, of Japan, pose with his bronze medal following the medal ceremony for the men’s golf at the 2024 Summer Olympics, Sunday, Aug. 4, 2024, at Le Golf National in Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, France.

10:42 JST, August 15, 2024

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Hideki Matsuyama is starting the PGA Tour’s lucrative postseason without his caddie and coach after they were victims of a robbery during a stopover in London from the Paris Olympics, Golf Digest Japan reported.

The magazine said Matsuyama had his wallet stolen, but not his Olympic bronze medal or his passport.

His caddie, Shota Hayato, and coach Mikihito Kuromiya, were not so fortunate. Golf Digest Japan said their passports and visas were stolen. They had to return to Japan and were working to get new documents expedited to return to the United States.

Matsuyama, who won at Riviera in the Genesis Invitational this year, is No. 8 in the FedEx Cup and is assured of making it through two playoff events to reach the season-ending Tour Championship in Atlanta.

The FedEx St. Jude Championship starts Thursday. The next stop is the BMW Championship outside Denver before the Tour Championship.

Matsuyama told the magazine there was a chance they can make it to Atlanta, “but we have to go into it thinking it’s close to zero.”

Taiga Tabuchi, who caddied for Ryo Hisatsune earlier this year, will work for Matsuyama at the TPC Southwind this week.