[PHOTO: James Gilbert]

Hideki Matsuyama has revealed he was robbed at a London airport, an incident that left him down a wallet and two members of his team.

The robbery was reported by our friends at Golf Digest Japan, who talked to Matsuyama ahead of this week’s FedEx St Jude Championship. The Japanese star, coming off winning a bronze medal at the Olympics in France, was making a layover in the UK.

Unfortunately, in addition to Matsuyama’s wallet, the passports of his caddie, Shota Hayafuji, and coach, Mikihito Kuromiya, were also taken. That meant both had to return to Japan to request expedited travel documents instead of going to Memphis for the first leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs. The earliest they could make it to the US would be just ahead of the Tour Championship in two weeks.

“There’s a chance they’ll make it, but we have to go into it thinking it’s close to zero,” Matsuyama told Golf Digest Japan.

“I’m going to play golf as if I went back to the way I was before I had a coach. I feel like all the responsibility is on me.”

In the meantime, Taiga Tabuchi, who caddies for fellow Japanese tour pro Ryo Hisatsune, will be on the bag for Matsuyama.

“I’m glad he accepted,” the 2021 Masters champion said. “He’s worked with Hisatsune this year, so I think he knows the ropes, and he can speak English, so I can rely on him.

“I want to pass on to him what I’ve cultivated with Shota on the course.”

Matsuyama enters the PGA Tour’s postseason ranked eighth and in great shape to be one of the top 30 to advance to Atlanta in two weeks thanks in large part to winning the Genesis Invitational in February. On the bright side, it doesn’t appear that his bronze medal was among the items stolen.