The Japanese star was on the practice green at TPC Southwinds in Memphis before the final round at the FedEx St Jude Championship, the first of three Playoffs event, where he held an overnight five-shot lead. Being a putter nerd, Faxon, who also works as a TV analyst, approached Matsuyama about his new Scotty Cameron putter which was he put in his bag for the first time.

“He has a five-shot lead, leading the week in putting stats which was incredible, and I said may I look at your putter as I’ve never seen it,” Faxon told SiriusXM PGA Tour radio. 

“I’m a Scotty Cameron geek too and he takes it out of the headcover, hands it to me and then honest to God, Hideki goes ‘can I have a putting lesson’ and he says it to me in English! I started laughing and said ‘Hideki, you’re leading by five, you’re putting first on Tour this week and want a putting lesson? I thought it was funny and then Bob Turner (Matsuyama’s agent and interpreter) came up and goes ‘he’s serious, he wants to know what you like about his putting.’”

Over the years, the flat stick has been Matsuyama’s pain and joy. He is renowned for his superb ball-striking abilities, which is reflected by his ‘Strokes Gained: Tee to Green’ third-place ranking this season. Entering Memphis last week – which by the way Matsuyama won by two – he was ranked a lowly 133^rd in ‘Strokes Gained: Putting’. 

His past five seasons have seen him ranked 119^th, 114^th, 175^th , 170^th and 97^th in putting, which makes one wonder how many more PGA Tour wins he could have won if he putted better and more consistently. At TPC Memphis, his new putter got real hot as he gained an astonishing 12.78 strokes over the field and made a total of 453 feet of putts, the second most in his career which now includes 10 PGA Tour titles. 

However, as he prepares for this week’s BMW Championship, there is no guarantee it will remain his preferred weapon of choice. Such is Matsuyama’s thirst for perfection that he is prepared to keep tinkering with his equipment. As to seeking advice from Faxon just before teeing off in the final round of a $US20 million event, it proves that he is like a sponge, ever ready to absorb all forms of golf knowledge to simply get better.

“Usually I travel with five or six putters,” said Matsuyama, who ranked third in putting when he won the Genesis Invitational and became the winningest Asian golfer with nine victories back in February.

“The putter that I used (in Memphis), I received it from Scotty last year, but I had never used it before. But for some reason when I was at home in Orlando coming to this tournament, I just started feeling that this putter may work on these greens.”