Pinned
Link copied
It has been smooth sailing for Hideki Matsuyama through three days at the 2024 St. Jude Championship. Signing for a 6-under 64 on Saturday, Matsuyama made the most of Moving Day pushing himself even further out in front of the chasing pack at TPC Southwind. The 64 represents his 12th straight round of par or better at TPC Southwind, the longest active streak on the PGA Tour.
Standing at 17 under, the Olympic bronze medalist will enter Sunday's deciding round of the first FedEx Cup Playoffs event with a five-stroke lead -- the largest 54-hole lead of the PGA Tour season -- over two-time winner Nick Dunlap. Should Matsuyama's second victory of 2024 materialize, he will move from No. 8 to No. 3 in the FedEx Cup standings with just one tournament remaining before the Tour Championship.
While Scottie Scheffler's spot atop the season-long race may be out of reach, Matsuyama's rise could prove critical given the staggered start at East Lake where he is currently projected to tee off at 7 under.
Before he gets to Atlanta, though, Matsuyama must convert his 54-hole lead in Memphis into his first-ever postseason triumph. Beginning Saturday in a share of the lead with Denny McCarthy, Matsuyama immediately made his presence known by striking his approach into the opener to tap-in distance.
While he put a square on the scorecard soon after, Matsuyama made amends thanks to his trusty 3 wood. Finding the surface in two on the par-5 3rd, the man from Japan rolled in his eagle effort from just inside 15 feet to push his name past the rest. Sam Burns caught him soon afterward thanks to a three-birdie streak, but it was clear Matsuyama was the man to beat in Memphis.
Stretching his lead to three thanks to birdies on Nos. 7 and Nos. 11, Matsuyama's margin grew to as many as five when another birdie was met with mistakes from Dunlap, who emerged as his closest competitor over the back nine. It is that margin which Matsuyama will sleep on as he aims to fend off a hungry chasing pack en route to his 10th PGA Tour victory.
The leader
1. Hideki Matsuyama (-17): Matsuyama made the Tour Championship nine straight times to kick off his career but was an omission in 2023. No matter the result, he will be in the East Lake field, but a victory Sunday would do a lot to help his cause and put an exclamation point on what has been a great -- perhaps underrated, even -- season. Since his win at the Genesis Invitational, Matsuyama has collected six top-12 finishes in 11 starts. While the putter was the showstopper the first two rounds, he leaned on his patented iron play on Saturday as he gave himself 11 chances at birdie-or-better from inside 15 feet.
Contenders
2. Nick Dunlap (-12)
3. Viktor Hovland (-11)
T4. Scottie Scheffler, Sam Burns (-10)
T6. Will Zalatoris, Denny McCarthy (-9)
8. Xander Schauffele (-8)
Hovland has looked like, well, Hovland over these last two days. Enjoying a strong approach day in Round 2, he was at it again on Saturday gaining more than two strokes on the field with his scoring clubs. Converting four of those opportunities into birdies, Hovland not only moved up the leaderboard but did so in bogey-free fashion. The only man to accomplish that in Round 3, the reigning FedEx Cup champion was able to avoid squares on his scorecard in spite of an untidy short game, which to be fair is also vintage Hovland.
"The ball is starting to behave like I'm expecting it to," Hovland said. "Even the misses, like some of the bad shots, I can feel that I'm still reverting back to old habits, but the misses are way smaller than they used to be. Before they would be off the planet, whereas now it's manageable and I can make a nice up-and-down or make a long putt or whatever it is. It's a lot easier to play golf when you kind of see the dispersion pattern is starting to shrink."
Burns' blunder
Having missed just one fairway in his round, Burns stepped to the ninth tee with the driver in hand. Wielding it effectively up to that point, the right hander set up left for his typical left-to-right shot shape but double crossed it and lost his golf ball left of the fairway. That wouldn't be the only thing that he would lose as he threw his driver in frustration, detaching the club head from the shaft and rendering it useless for the remainder of his round. After making double bogey, Burns was forced to play without his driver for his back nine where he lost 1.46 strokes off the tee en route to shooting even-par 35.
Biggest movers in the FedEx Cup
| Start | Golfer | Projected | Score | Tournament Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|
67 | Nick Dunlap | 12 | -12 | 2 |
57 | Viktor Hovland | 20 | -11 | 3 |
55 | Justin Rose | 46 | -7 | T9 |
| 50 | Jake Knapp | 57 | +6 | 68 |
49 | Will Zalatoris | 34 | -9 | T6 |
45 | Denny McCarthy | 30 | -9 | T6 |
| 44 | Cam Davis | 52 | E | T53 |
39 | Keegan Bradley | 51 | +3 | T62 |
35 | Max Homa | 44 | +11 | 70 |
31 | Cameron Young | 40 | +5 | T66 |
30 | Corey Conners | 38 | -1 | T45 |
2024 St. Jude Championship updated odds, picks
- Hideki Matsuyama: 2/7
- Scottie Scheffler: 9-1
- Nick Dunlap: 10-1
- Viktor Hovland: 14-1
Matsuyama should convert his five-stroke lead into a victory, and the price is pretty fair. I don't mind laying the number, but Hovland at 14-1 would be my outsider to circle. He has the firepower to finish in a flurry -- as he did at last year's BMW Championship -- and seems to have really found his full swing which will produce plenty of birdie chances.
