PGA Tour pro makes outrageous Hideki Matsuyama revelation during COVID lockdown

PGA Tour pro Michael Kim has revealed Hideki Matsuyama was denied the full $2.7m first prize at the 2020 Players Championship all because four players failed to finish their first round at TPC Sawgrass.

The 2020 Players Championship was scheduled for 12-15 March but it was cancelled prior to the second round in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Matsuyama fired out the gates in the first round with a joint course record 9-under 63.

The PGA Tour initially confirmed during the opening day's play that its flagship event of the regular season would still be going ahead but behind closed doors for the remainder of the week. 

But as a result of coronavirus spreading by the second at the time, the PGA Tour eventually deemed it necessary on Thursday night to completely cancel the tournament.

The Players Championship was also not included in the revised schedule announced in early April 2020.

Shocking Hideki Matsuyama revelation comes to light on PGA Tour

According to PGA Tour pro Kim, the total prize pot was split among all 144 players that week.

It meant every player earned $52,000.

But Kim also dropped a bombshell that had just four players completed their first round at the 2020 Players Championship then Matsuyama would have taken the first prize of $2.7m.

The prize money would have been distributed according to player positions after just 18 holes, but only if all 144 players had completed the first round. 

Kim posted on X / Twitter: 

'Fun fact about the COVID Players Championship: On Thursday, everyone in the field but 4 players finished the round and on Thursday night it was decided the entire tournament was cancelled. Half the purse was evenly distributed amongst everyone at 52k. However, if those 4 players had finished their first round, the entire purse would have been paid out and Hideki would have gotten the winning check of 2.7 million!'

Spare a thought for how Matsuyama must have felt after learning that news! 

Then again, Matsuyama does rank 13th in the all-time PGA Tour career money standings with more than $55m, so he probably got over it. 

Matsuyama also went on to win The Masters, his first and only major to date, the following season.

So things didn't work out too badly for him! 

Watched our latest video?