Hideki Matsuyama lost his wallet in London and lost his caddy and coach at the start of the FedEx Cup playoffs because thieves snatched his pockets.

But none of that seemed to bother the Japanese star on Thursday at the start of the PGA Tour postseason.

Chris Kirk made a hole-in-one and shot 64 (six under par) to move one stroke ahead at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.

As expected, the two best golfers, Olympic gold medalist Scottie Scheffler and two-time major winner Xander Schauffele, were at the front.

The surprise in some ways was Matsuyama, the Olympic bronze medalist who has had plenty of distractions since leaving Paris and still shot a round of 65 on a sweltering day at TPC Southwind.

“I completely forgot about it. It’s not even an issue now,” Matsuyama said through his interpreter.

He was stopping off in London with his caddie Shota Hayato and his swing coach Mikihito Kuromiya. They were having dinner in the city when, according to Matsuyama’s statement, his caddie noticed the bag was missing. Its contents included Matsuyama’s wallet and the passports of Hayato and Kuromiya. Matsuyama had left his passport – and his bronze medal – in his hotel room.

“It was an unfortunate situation,” Matsuyama said. “Fortunately, I only lost my wallet, but Shota, my caddy and the coach lost their passports and we are now trying hard to get their visas back in order. And hopefully we can come together as a team as soon as possible.”

In the meantime, he has hired Taiga Tabuchi, who most recently worked as a caddy for the Japan LPGA and worked with Ryo Hisatsune on the PGA Tour earlier this year.

New caddy, old Hideki. The former Masters champion has been gaining momentum over the past month. After hitting into the water and taking a bogey on the par-5 third hole, he responded with a flurry of birdies – four in a five-hole stretch on the back nine, giving him a 65.

“My job is the same. I just play golf,” Matsuyama said. “I talk to my coach on the phone every night. I have a great caddie – Taiga did a great job today. So we’ll just see how it goes.”

Hayato hopes to be back in contention at the Tour Championship. Matsuyama is number 8 in the FedEx Cup and is certain to be there.

That’s not the case for Kirk, who is 28th in the overall standings. The top 50 after this week will move on to the BMW Championship outside of Denver, and the top 30 from there will then head to Atlanta.

Kirk took an early lead with a birdie on the 12th hole when he hit a 6-iron, landed the ball in front of the pin and rolled in like a putt for an ace.

“I was looking a little further to the left, with water on the right, but once I hit it, I hit it exactly how I wanted to,” Kirk said. “Yeah, nice bonus.”

Canadian Taylor Pendrith and Frenchman Matthieu Pavon, both of whom won for the first time on the PGA Tour this year, finished with a score of 65 at Matsuyama.

The 66-year-old group also included Scheffler and Schauffele, who together won three of the four majors and eight PGA Tour titles and earned just over $44 million ($67 million Australian dollars) this year.

Australians Cam Davis, Min Woo Lee and Adam Scott all shot even-par 70s to finish tied for 43rd, while Jason Day shot 72.

Davis (now 48th in the FedEx projected rankings), Lee (66th) and Scott (50th) all lost four spots, while Day (32nd) dropped six spots.