MEMPHIS, Tennessee: Hideki Matsuyama and Denny McCarthy combined to make nearly 300 feet of putts Friday, so it was no surprise to see them sharing the lead going into the steamy weekend of the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
Matsuyama recovered from a shaky start — he missed a 4-foot birdie putt on No. 2 and put his tee shot into the water on the par-3 fourth — with two long birdie putts and a 3-wood to about 12 feet on the par-5 16th for one of his easier birdies. He had a 6-under 64.
McCarthy, with a reputation for a smooth putting stroke, put that to good use on the smooth greens of TPC Southwind. He holed three birdie putts from about 25 feet or longer to offset a pair of bogeys in his round of 63.
They were at 11-under 129, one shot ahead of another great putter, Sam Burns, who shot 29 on the front nine before cooling slightly. He had a 63.
Scottie Scheffler got on track late with three straight birdies for a 65 and was two back.
The first PGA Tour postseason event is the most consequential. The points are quadrupled, and the top 50 players in the FedEx Cup advance to the BMW Championship next week and are assured of playing in all the $20 million signature events next year.
Jordan Spieth moved closer to the end of his year. He had a pair of double bogeys on the par 3s, one from the water on No. 4, another by taking two shots to get out of bunker on No. 14, and posted a 75 that left him in a tie for 65th.
Spieth has talked about the possibility of wrist surgery in the offseason, and he could have the next three months clear barring two of his best rounds of the year.
Others who had better seasons could afford a spotty performance. Rory McIlroy is the No. 3 seed going into the postseason and turned in a lackluster performance on another day when the heat index was in the range of 110 degrees (40 degrees Celsius). He played the two par 5s in 3 over and shot 73, leaving him in a tie for 58th.
This is a big week for McCarthy, who has never won on the PGA Tour and is at No. 45. A victory would move him into the top five in the standings and secure a spot in the Tour Championship for the top 30.
Ditto for Justin Rose, who is outside the magic number at No. 55. He had another 66 and was tied for fifth with Nick Dunlap (65)
Amazingly, McCarthy is doing this with what he described as a torn labrum without getting into too many details.
“I don’t want to divulge too much. It’s bothering me, and I’ve been able to do enough the last few days to push through it,” he said. “The heat helps it. Yeah, looking forward to a challenge on the weekend.”
Matsuyama doesn’t divulge too much on any topic, and he summed up his round thusly: “I missed a short putt there at 2, knocked it in the water at 4, but from that point on, I really played well and putted well.”
As for the hot weather?
“Today was nice and cool,” the Japanese star said, smiling as it was translated to English.
Matsuyama was in good spirits about his game. He is coping with having a bag stolen last week in London while at a restaurant that included his wallet and the passports of his caddie and coach. They are in Japan trying to get new passports. He’s tied for the lead in Memphis.
Players will go off both sides in groups of three Saturday to cope with thunderstorms expected in the morning.
Scheffler and Xander Schauffele generated the most interest from a gallery that was subdued by the scorching heat, a pairing that combines three of the four majors and $44 million in earnings on the PGA Tour this year.
Schauffele started well until running into trouble on the tough 12th — water off the tee, and then after a penalty drop, a shot that hit off the cart path and bounded over the green near a bush. He did well to make double bogey from there, shot 69 and was six shots behind.
Scheffler played bogey-free but didn’t look to get much out of his round until the very end when he stuffed a wedge on the 15th for birdie, got up-and-down for birdie on the 16th and holed a birdie putt from just inside 25 feet on the 17th.
Most curious about his day is seeing caddie Ted Scott walk all the way up to the green on the second hole (from 71 yards) and the ninth hole (102 yards) to make sure the yardage was accurate. And then he jogged back to Scheffler’s shot — in severe heat.
“As he was running up to the ninth green, I was thinking to myself, ‘Why is he doing that? I’m in the rough.’ He wanted to make sure the number was correct on the green,” Scheffler said. “He did that twice today. And I guess he got tired because he didn’t do it the rest of the day.”
