Despite facing dire circumstances resulting from a robbery in London earlier this week, Hideki Matsuyama is sharing the 36-hole lead with Denny McCarthy at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
McCarthy has had to overcome many obstacles, including sweating issues and a long-standing plagued back injury.
But despite those setbacks, both players entered Friday at 11 under par to take the lead. McCarthy’s seven-under 63 was his lowest score of the week, matching the scores set earlier on Friday by Viktor Hovlan and Sam Burns, while Matsuyama’s six-under 64 included seven birdies and one bogey on the par-three fourth hole.
Speaking of Barnes, the Texan started off scorching hot Friday with birdie-eagle-birdie on the second, third and fourth holes. He opened with a 6-under 29 for a final round of 63. Barnes is at 10 under, one stroke behind Matsuyama and McCarthy.
But the best player in the world is one stroke behind Barnes at nine under and two behind the leader. Scottie Scheffler played flawless again, shooting a bogey-free five-under 65 to take the lead and move into sole fourth place. Overwhelming popularity At the halfway point of the championship, no one would be surprised if he won his seventh PGA Tour title on Sunday in Memphis. Everyone would be shocked if he didn’t get in the running for the win, fizzled out and failed to finish in the top five again.
That being said, the heat in Memphis has caused many players to struggle through the 36 holes — just look at Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and Cameron Young, none of whom were able to break par in the first two rounds.
But anything could happen, given the bad weather forecast for the afternoon, which prompted the PGA Tour to move tee times earlier in the day, with groups starting in threes and what will likely be longer rounds in hot, humid and marshy conditions.
Tee times (ET) for the third round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship
* – indicates start on the 10th tee
10:45 a.m. — Adam Scott, Sepp Straka, Maverick McNeely
10:45 AM* — Alex Noren, Davis Thompson, Mathieu Pavon
10:56 a.m. — Wyndham Clark, Seamus Power, Eric Cole
10:56am* — Shane Lowry, Ming Woo Lee, Keegan Bradley
11:07 a.m. — Austin Eckroth, Justin Thomas, Akshay Bhatia
11:07am* — JT Poston, Corey Connors, Jason Day
11:18 a.m. — Tommy Fleetwood, Taylor Pendris, Emiliano Grillo
11:18 a.m.* — Tom Hogue, Patrick Cantlay, Byung-hun Ahn
11:29am — Christian Bezuidenhout, Russell Henley, Ben Griffin
11:29am* — Sahith Sigala, Victor Perez, Cameron Davis
11:40am — Brendon Todd, Harris English, Nick Taylor
11:40am* — Seong-jae Lim, Ludwig Oberg, Collin Morikawa
11:51 a.m. — Xander Schauffele, Tom Kim, Brian Harman
11:51am* — Peter Malnati, Patrick Rogers, Stephen Yeager
12:02 PM — Matt Fitzpatrick, Aaron Lai, Tony Finau
12:02pm* — Taylor Moore, Mackenzie Hughes, Cameron Young
12:13pm — Eric Van Rooyen, Will Zalatoris, Chris Kirk
12:13pm* — Rory McIlroy, Adam Hadwin, Thomas Detry
12:24pm — Viktor Hovland, Robert McIntyre, Billy Horschel
12:24pm* — Jonathan Vegas, Jordan Spieth, Max Glaserman
12:35 p.m. — Scottie Scheffler, Justin Rose, Nick Dunlap
12:35pm* — Mark Hubbard, Kim Si-woo
12:46pm — Denny McCarthy, Hideki Matsuyama, Sam Burns
12:46pm* — Jake Knapp, Max Homa
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.
