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Hideki Matsuyama withdraws from the BMW Championship due to a lower back injury

Hideki Matsuyama has withdrawn from the BMW Championship before the second round on Friday due to a lower back injury, the PGA Tour announced.

“I am disappointed to have to withdraw my participation in the BMW Championship after experiencing lower back pain during warm-up this morning that made it impossible for me to play,” Matsuyama said in a statement.

He shot a 67 in the first round with six birdies, including three consecutive birdies on holes 2, 3 and 4.

Matsuyama won the FedEx St. Jude Championship last weekend. The ten-time PGA Tour winner shot a final-round 70 to win the first FedEx Cup playoff event. With the win, Matsuyama moved up five spots in the FedEx Cup standings and is now in third place behind Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele.

Matsuyama's place in next week's Tour Championship is secure if he can play.

Analysis of Matsuyama's season

The injury is a huge blow to Matsuyama, who is coming off arguably the best season of his career. Or at least his best since 2017. Yes, this season was about Scheffler, Schauffele and Bryson DeChambeau, but Matsutyama will likely finish in fourth place.

After two years of injury problems, Matsuyama has been shining at top events. His breakthrough came with a 62 on Sunday to win the Genesis Invitational in February – perhaps the biggest non-Players Championship event on the tour calendar – and he took bronze at the Olympics before winning last week at St. Jude, another FedEx Cup tournament. All of that on top of sixth-place finishes at the US Open and the Players. Given his good performance on Thursday, I wondered if he could break through and win the Tour Championship.

He can still do it if he comes back healthy. It just hurts not being able to see how great Matsuyama's run could have been. Others like Patrick Cantlay and Viktor Hovland are gunning for the Cup in August, and Matsuyama had a chance to be next. — Brody Miller, golf writer

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(Photo: Steve Roberts / USA Today)

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