Hideki Matsuyama leads by five strokes after three rounds of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the PGA Tour’s first playoff event.
He finished with a 6-under 64, with five birdies, one eagle and one bogey.
Since the tournament began, Matsuyama’s putter has been one of the best clubs in his bag. Coming into Saturday’s round, he was 10th in the field in strokes gained and was +1.804 in putting.
He leads the field after three rounds of play, having gained about seven strokes on the putting green alone (+6.893), and he also ranks first in strokes gained total (+14.142).
“I’ve got a new putter in the bag and it’s been working really well,” Matsuyama said after Saturday’s round. “I’ve been using it for a while so I thought this might be a good week to debut it, but I might still change putters tonight.”
It’s a Scotty Cameron putter, but I couldn’t figure out exactly which model it was.
Matsuyama started his round with a birdie on the first hole, but missed his only shot of the day on the second hole.
The par-5 third hole provided a big momentum boost for the 2024 bronze medalist. Second shot He sank the putt 14 feet, 11 inches from the hole.
“That was super important,” he said. “I got the momentum back and then I continued on with the round. That was big.”
Putting has been a big factor for him, but his approach play has helped him as well, as he sits second in strokes gained at +6.849 shots after 54 holes.
The Japanese golfer comes to Memphis after winning a bronze medal in Paris and appears to be peaking at the perfect time this season.
But it has a lot to do with ultimately feeling healthy.
“I don’t know if it has anything to do with the result,” Matsuyama said of his health. “Again, I’m just going to keep doing the same thing going forward. There are good days and bad days, but I played well today and hopefully that will continue tomorrow.”
While the eagle on the third hole was a huge confidence boost, saving par on the 17th hole may have been the most important shot of the day.
Matsuyama made an incredible up-and-down move to save par.
TPC Southwind is not an easy course. The wind gives players a lot to think about, but Matsuyama doesn’t mind.
“The course is definitely more difficult, especially when the wind blows,” Matsuyama said. “It’s drying out. I don’t know what the conditions will be like tomorrow, but I’ll be well prepared and hopefully I can get the same results.”
Matsuyama is five strokes behind second-place finisher Nick Dunlap, a PGA Tour rookie, who is at 12 under par after shooting a four-under 66 to move up four spots on the leaderboard.
They will tee off in the final group at 1:40 pm ET on Championship Sunday.
Savannah Lee Richardson is a golf staff writer for SB Nation Playing Through. Follow us for more golf articles. Follow You can follow us on all major social platforms. You can also follow us on Twitter Follow Her Instagram account is @golf_girl_sl.
