Despite facing distressing circumstances stemming from a robbery in London earlier in the week, Hideki Matsuyama holds a share of the 36-hole lead with Denny McCarthy at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
McCarthy has also had to overcome his fair share of struggles, which include a perspiration issue and a nagging hip injury that has bothered him for quite some time.
Yet, despite these setbacks, both players soared to the top of the leaderboard on Friday as they each sit at 11-under-par. McCarthy shot a 7-under 63, the lowest round of the week, matched by Viktor Hovland and Sam Burns earlier in the day on Friday. Matsuyama, meanwhile, posted a 6-under 64, a round that included seven birdies and one bogey on the par-3 4th.
Speaking of Burns, the Texan got off to a blistering start on Friday, going birdie-eagle-birdie on the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th holes. He went on to shoot a 6-under 29 on the front side, which ultimately became a 63. Burns sits one back of Matsuyama and McCarthy at 10-under-par.
But the best player in the world is lurking at 9-under, one back of Burns and two off the lead. Scottie Scheffler played flawless yet again, shooting a bogey-free, 5-under 65 to climb up the leaderboard and into solo fourth. He remains the odds-on favorite at the midway point of the championship, and it would surprise nobody if he won a seventh PGA Tour title on Sunday in Memphis. It would shock everybody if he did not contend, faltered, and failed to post another top-5 finish.
:format(webp):no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/25575924/2166323335.jpg)
With that said, the oppressive heat in Memphis has led many players to struggle through 36 holes. Look at Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth, and Cameron Young, each of whom failed to break par over the first two rounds.
But anything can happen, especially considering bad weather is forecasted in the afternoon. As such, the PGA Tour moved up tee times to earlier in the day. Groups will go off in threesomes, which will lead to a longer round in the heat, humidity, and swampy conditions.
Round 3 Tee Times for FedEx St. Jude Championship (ET)
* – Denotes 10th tee start
10:45 a.m. — Adam Scott, Sepp Straka, Maverick McNealy
10:45 a.m.* — Alex Noren, Davis Thompson, Matthieu Pavon
10:56 a.m. — Wyndham Clark, Seamus Power, Eric Cole
10:56 a.m.* — Shane Lowry, Min Woo Lee, Keegan Bradley
11:07 a.m. — Austin Eckroat, Justin Thomas, Akshay Bhatia
11:07 a.m.* — J.T. Poston, Corey Conners, Jason Day
11:18 a.m. — Tommy Fleetwood, Taylor Pendrith, Emiliano Grillo
11:18 a.m.* — Tom Hoge, Patrick Cantlay, Byeong Hun An
11:29 a.m. — Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Russell Henley, Ben Griffin
11:29 a.m.* — Sahith Theegala, Victor Perez, Cameron Davis
11:40 a.m. — Brendon Todd, Harris English, Nick Taylor
11:40 a.m.* — Sungjae Im, Ludvig Åberg, Collin Morikawa
11:51 a.m. — Xander Schauffele, Tom Kim, Brian Harman
11:51 a.m.* — Peter Malnati, Patrick Rodgers, Stephan Jaeger
12:02 p.m. — Matt Fitzpatrick, Aaron Rai, Tony Finau
12:02 p.m.* — Taylor Moore, Mackenzie Hughes, Cameron Young
12:13 p.m. — Erik van Rooyen, Will Zalatoris, Chris Kirk
12:13 p.m.* — Rory McIlroy, Adam Hadwin, Thomas Detry
12:24 p.m. — Viktor Hovland, Robert MacIntyre, Billy Horschel
12:24 p.m.* — Jhonattan Vegas, Jordan Spieth, Max Greyserman
12:35 p.m. — Scottie Scheffler, Justin Rose, Nick Dunlap
12:35 p.m.* — Mark Hubbard, Si Woo Kim
12:46 p.m. — Denny McCarthy, Hideki Matsuyama, Sam Burns
12:46 p.m.* — Jake Knapp, Max Homa
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
