Considering the city of Memphis is the birthplace of rock and roll, it’s only natural to mention the late, great Jerry Lee Lewis. TPC Southwind, home of the FedEx St. Jude Championship this week, looks like it’s been engulfed in a giant fireball.
Over the past few days, heat indexes in southwest Tennessee have exceeded 110 degrees, causing many athletes to suffer in the unbearable heat.
That includes Denny McCarthy, who is not only battling a hip injury but is also facing more danger than anyone in this weather, and he spoke about his sweating issues after Thursday’s opening round.
“I sweat a lot and when I sweat I lose a lot of salt, so I take in a lot of sodium and salt before I start sweating,” McCarthy explained after shooting a 4-under 66 in the first round.
“I underwent a professional sweat test last fall to learn more about my body and the sweating issues I was having. It’s definitely helped me during the hotter weeks this year.”
McCarthy acknowledged he wasn’t hydrated enough at last year’s FedEx St. Jude Championship, in a situation similar to the ones players are facing this week, and said the heat distracted him from his golf game, resulting in his worst performance of the season.
But he didn’t struggle on Friday.
McCarthy, still missing his first PGA Tour win, shot an incredible 7-under 63 to shoot up the leaderboard and share the lead after 36 holes. Hideki Matsuyama, who has had an interesting week himself, is also in the running to win alongside McCarthy at 11-under.
“It was a really good round. Everything went well for me,” McCarthy said after Friday’s round.
“My putting was good. I hit some good iron shots. I had a couple of bogeys but I bounced back well after that. Yeah, everything went really well today.”
McCarthy is one of the best putters on the PGA Tour and he proved it on Friday. He sank a 160-foot putt and made everything from anywhere, including three of his nine birdies from outside 25 feet.
“I try to put the same amount of intent and focus into each putt, whether it’s a short putt or a long putt. If I’m trying to make a putt, I’m not trying to push it in eight feet,” McCarthy said.
“I just tried to stay focused, pick my spots and make the best putts I could.”
He missed a few putts from short distance, sure, but his bombs from long range made it and even more so.
But there was no photo on the scorecard, and McCarthy’s total was an astounding 63, tying him for the lowest score of the week. Viktor Hovland and Sam Burns also shot 63 on Friday.
But now, McCarthy will have the opportunity to relax and cool off by jumping into the cold water — the perfect escape from the Memphis heat.
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.
