Contemplating the town of Memphis is the birthplace of rock and roll, it’s solely apt to reference the good, late Jerry Lee Lewis. It feels as if TPC Southwind, the host of this week’s FedEx St. Jude Championship, has been engulfed in an ideal ball of fireside.
Over the previous few days, the warmth index has soared above 110 levels throughout Southwest Tennessee, and lots of gamers have struggled within the insufferable warmth.
That features Denny McCarthy, who is just not solely preventing by way of a hip harm however faces a extra precarious state of affairs on this climate than anybody else. He talked about his perspiration subject after Thursday’s opening spherical.
“I sweat quite a bit, and I lose a number of salt after I sweat, so I’m consuming a number of sodium, a number of salt earlier than I even sweat,” McCarthy defined after his first spherical 4-under 66.
“I received professionally sweat examined within the fall final yr simply to seek out out extra about my physique, extra about this sweating drawback that I’ve. It’s helped out on among the hotter weeks this yr for positive.”
McCarthy admitted that he was not hydrating sufficient ultimately yr’s FedEx St. Jude Championship, which noticed related circumstances to those gamers are dealing with this week. McCarthy then defined how, due to the warmth, he couldn’t give attention to his golf and thus turned in certainly one of his worst performances of the season.
However he definitely didn’t battle on Friday.
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McCarthy, who continues to be on the lookout for his maiden PGA Tour title, carded a outstanding 7-under 63 to shoot up the leaderboard and seize a share of the 36-hole lead. Hideki Matsuyama, who has had an attention-grabbing week himself, additionally sits at 11-under for the championship alongside McCarthy.
“It was a extremely good spherical. I did all the pieces fairly effectively,” McCarthy mentioned after Friday’s spherical.
“I putted effectively. I hit a number of good iron pictures. Bounced again properly after a few the bogeys I had. Yeah, all the pieces felt actually strong right now.”
McCarthy can also be among the best putters on the PGA Tour, and he made that identified on Friday. He drained 160 toes price of putts, making all the pieces from in every single place. Three of his 9 birdies got here from exterior of 25 toes.
“I’m simply making an attempt to place the identical quantity of intention and give attention to every putt, whether or not it’s brief or lengthy, making an attempt to make it however not making an attempt to ram it eight toes by,” McCarthy mentioned.
“Simply actually making an attempt to lock in, choose my spots, and hit nearly as good of putts as I can.”
He did miss a couple of putts from a shorter vary, however these long-range bombs made it for it after which some.
But, no footage exist on the scorecard and McCarthy’s added as much as a outstanding 63, which ties the bottom spherical of the week. Viktor Hovland and Sam Burns additionally posted 63s on Friday.
However now McCarthy can have a possibility to calm down and take a chilly plunge to chill off—an ideal reprieve from the Memphis warmth.
Jack Milko is a golf workers author for SB Nation’s Taking part in By means of. Make sure to try @_PlayingThrough for extra golf protection. You possibly can comply with him on Twitter @jack_milko as effectively.
