Hideki Matsuyama withdraws from BMW with back injury

OLYMPIA FIELDS, Ill. – What was already a largely forgettable season ended early for Hideki Matsuyama, who injured his back and withdrew from the BMW Championship on Friday.

Matsuyama, who shot a first-round 71 and was needing to make a big move at 47th in the FedExCup (the top 30 get into next week’s season-ending TOUR Championship) had not yet begun his second round. It was his second WD of this season, the first having come at the Cadence Bank Houston Open last November.

He was scheduled to go off with playing partner Tom Hoge at 2 p.m. ET.

An eight-time PGA TOUR winner, the 31-year-old Matsuyama staked his claim as the best-ever men’s golfer from Japan with his 2021 Masters victory and two more TOUR wins last season, at the ZOZO Championship and Sony Open in Hawaii. He has eight TOUR wins in total.

This season, though, has been a slog. Matsuyama’s world ranking has dipped to 34th after battling intermittent neck pain and amassing just two top-10 finishes in 24 starts coming into the BMW. He was coming off a T16 finish, including a final-round 65, at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis last week.

Matsuyama had qualified for the TOUR Championship in each of the last nine seasons, the longest active streak of any player.