At last year’s FedEx St. Jude Championship, the muggy Memphis summer heat led to a lot of buzz about Lucas Glover’s sweaty pants. His slacks were soaked, and he looked like he’d just showered on his way to a historic win. His “swamp butt” became the perfect metaphor for how everyone felt.
This year was no exception, with temperatures that felt like 100 degrees on Thursday leaving PGA Tour players exhausted, cranky and thirsty. Unfortunately, the forecast for the FedEx St. Jude Championship weekend predicts more of the same.
“I’m more worried about the heat than the challenges of golf. I’m sweating a lot,” said Denny McCarthy, who shot a respectable 4-under 66 on Thursday.
“We’re struggling with the heat. We’re struggling to keep things dry.”
Players alternated between gloves, drank countless hydration drinks and repeatedly dried themselves down with their own hand towels, some even smearing baby powder on their hands to dry them out, a trick used by many pros in wet conditions.
“It’s hard just to keep your hands wet and stay mentally focused,” said Harris English, a Georgia native who is used to the heat.
“When it’s this hot, it’s easy to lose focus.”
High temperature warning The entry will remain valid after the second round ends at 9pm CST on Friday.
The heat index continues to hover around 112 degrees, making conditions unbearable for players, fans and commentators on the ground.
“I really felt like I was up for a fight this week,” McCarthy added.
“As for last year, I made a lot of changes, like hydration and eating better before playing a hot round. I feel like that helped me play today and helped me stay in shape. Last year, every day was tough and I felt like it was hard to concentrate on golf.”
McCarthy explained that the heat at last year’s FedEx St. Jude Championship contributed to his finishing tied for 66th, which dropped him out of the top 30 in the FedEx Cup standings, and he missed the Tour Championship despite being 24th when he arrived in Memphis.
He suffered so much from the heat that he actually had to see a doctor and realised he needed to drink more fluids.
So McCarthy, who is still missing his first PGA Tour win this year, showed up to TPC Southwind ranked 45th. He also showed up with a game plan for how to handle the Memphis heat, and so far it’s worked for him. But Thursday’s round was still a struggle.
“I felt like today we were just trying to survive the heat,” McCarthy said.
“Nice job.”
But every athlete has to deal with the temperatures, which is why Texas native Sam Barnes keeps it simple while competing in these conditions.
“I think when you think about the heat a lot and you talk about how hot it is, you start to believe it,” Burns said.
“I think if you just focus on playing golf, the heat will just be part of it.”
That’s not to say it won’t be challenging, but competing in this kind of heat is tough even for the best athletes in the world.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow For more golf articles, follow us on Twitter Jack Mirko In the same way.
