The second round of the St. Jude Championship kicked off Friday morning. With about half of the field having finished their round, there is a surprising leader: Denny McCarthy.
The 31-year-old McCarthy carded a 7-under 63 Friday to finish the day at 11-under par. He is currently tied with 2024 Genesis Invitational winner Hideki Matsuyama, one shot ahead of Sam Burns. First round leader Chris Kirk is two back, but has an entire back nine to play as of this writing.
Nevertheless, it was a splendid round of golf from McCarthy. That is especially true considering it was revealed earlier this week he is dealing with a torn hip labrum, according to Golf Channel's Todd Lewis. Following his round, McCarthy detailed the effects of the injury on his game.
“It's just coming through on the downswing a little bit. It is just hard to maybe get a little more rotation, push up through the ground than I would like. It's been okay,” McCarthy said.
“The heat really helps it. It really loosens it up. But I've had to spend a lot of time post-round, pre-round getting it loose, getting it ready to go to play a full round.”
However, when pressed on whether or not it is bone on bone, or whether he tore it or not, the former Virginia Cavalier played coy.
“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.”
McCarthy's putting this week has made a big difference. He sank a 26-foot birdie putt on the par-3 4th Friday, setting the tone. The round culminated with another tricky birdie putt that dropped.
If the PGA Tour veteran can remain hot with the flat stick and the heat at TPC Southwind helping keep the hip stay loose, he may just have a shot at earning his first win. That would go a long ways in the FedEx Cup Playoffs.
Denny McCarthy making a push in FedEx Cup Playoffs
The top 70 ranked players in the FedEx Cup standings qualified for the first round of the PGA Tour's version of the playoffs. McCarthy entered this tournament 45th on that list. Yet, he needed a solid showing to advance to next week's BMW Championship, the penultimate event of the playoffs.
Only the top 50 players will advance to the Castle Pines Golf Club next week. Barring a complete collapse, or withdrawal due to injury, McCarthy sits in a great spot to advance to the final tournament of the PGA Tour season.
The top 30 coming out of the BMW Championship will play in Atlanta for the Tour Championship.
This sudden burst from McCarthy has seemingly come out of nowhere. He has had a difficult season, garnering only three top-10s. The Rockville, Maryland native also missed the cut in two of his previous three tournaments, with a T33 finish at the Wyndham Championship being the exception.
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