2024 St. Jude Championship leaderboard: Hideki Matsuyama soars as Viktor Hovland, Scottie Scheffler contend

Matsuyama extended his advantage in Memphis with 18 holes remaining

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.

[Aug 17, 2024 at 5:09 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Scheffler gets within five

The world No. 1 takes advantage of the par-5 16th to inch closer to Hideki Matsuyama. The tournament is firmly in the hands of the bronze medalist, but the gold medalist hopes for another fast finish similar to yesterday when he put three circles on the scorecard in his final four holes.

[Aug 17, 2024 at 4:47 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Burns' blunders

After tying the lead at 13 under with three straight birdies from Nos. 4-6, Sam Burns has gone only in the wrong direction. He is 4 over since and has lost two balls in the water including the latest on the par-3 14th. He has fallen six behind Hideki Matsuyama and is jeopardy of falling completely out of contention should he fail to take care of some easier holes coming in.

[Aug 17, 2024 at 4:20 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Scheffler trying to sneak into final group

Hideki Matsuyama's lead is now four after a Nick Dunlap bogey, but Scottie Scheffler should have his sights on inching closer. The world No. 1 is five behind Matsuyama but only one behind Dunlap with five holes to play. If he can grab a couple coming in, he should be able to do that.

[Aug 17, 2024 at 3:46 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Here comes Scottie

That's now two birdies in his last three holes and the world No. 1 is officially lurking. Hideki just missed an 8-foot birdie chance on the par-4 10th while Scheffler connected from 22 feet on the hole after. Scheffler stands at 10 under and four off the lead.

[Aug 17, 2024 at 3:20 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Burns breaks his driver

Sam Burns will be without a driver for his back nine after snapping it on the ninth tee. To make matters worse, he just made a double bogey and is now four strokes behind Hideki Matsuyama after being tied with him just a couple holes ago. 

[Aug 17, 2024 at 3:04 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Scheffler turns in even

It has been a visibly frustrating nine holes for the world No. 1 on the greens. Well, the good news is when you hit it that close, you don't need the putter. Scheffler stuffs it to a foot on No. 9 to get back to even par on the day and five behind Hideki Matsuyama.

[Aug 17, 2024 at 2:32 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Burns pulls even with Hideki

That's four birdies in his last five holes and three in a row for Sam Burns to pull even with Hideki Matsuyama at 13 under. He is play uber aggressive off the tee and it is paying dividends as he is splitting fairways with consistency and leaving himself just wedges into the greens.

[Aug 17, 2024 at 2:07 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Schauffele surging

That's two straight birdies from the world No. 2 to get to 8 under and within five of Hideki Matsuyama who shows no signs of slowing down. Schauffele is about to make the turn and inch closer to Matsuyama on what has proven to be the more difficult side of the golf course.

[Aug 17, 2024 at 1:39 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Hideki's 3 wood…

That club is a PROBLEM. He threw a dart into the par-5 16th with it late in his round yesterday and he just did it again on the par-5 3rd. From 270 yards, Matsuyama's second settles inside 15 feet and he will have that putt to open up a three-stroke lead. After an opening birdie, he gave it back with a bogey on No. 2.

[Aug 17, 2024 at 1:07 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Matsuyama opens up two-stroke lead

A kick-in birdie from Hideki and a bogey from Denny McCarthy means the lead is now two. Hideki stands at 12 under and two clear of not only McCarthy but Nick Dunlap who has started with two circles on his scorecard. He seeks his third win this season and a spot in the BMW Championship.

[Aug 17, 2024 at 12:52 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Rose rolls one in early

Justin Rose began the day at 8 under and ranked first in strokes gained tee to green. He quickly adds a birdie on his opening hole and injects some life into that putter which has held him back through two days. He's now 9 under and only two behind the leaders.

[Aug 17, 2024 at 12:29 pm ET · Patrick McDonald]

Strong starts from Schauffele and Finau

Tony Finau has a great chance to make some in roads on that third position in the FedEx Cup that is ripe for the picking. As of now it belongs to Hideki Matsuyama with Denny McCarthy occupying No. 4, but Finau's opening birdie has inched him towards to the top. Should more fall over the weekend, Finau should find the top 10 in both the tournament and FedEx Cup.

[Aug 17, 2024 at 11:52 am ET · Patrick McDonald]

World No. 2 gets going

It has been a somewhat sloppy couple days off the tee for Xander Schauffele. Still, he has hung tough and is still in this golf tournament at 5 under only six off the lead. He needs to be cleaner with the driver if he is to keep pace with Scottie Scheffler in the season-long race and put a bit of a stranglehold on the No. 2 spot.

[Aug 17, 2024 at 11:10 am ET · Patrick McDonald]

Round 3 underway

Tee times were moved back to 9:45 a.m. local time due to forecasted thunderstorms. Instead of twosomes off No. 1, they will play in threesomes off split tees. That means Scottie Scheffler won't draw his good friend Sam Burns as Burns is instead slotted to play with Denny McCarthy and Hideki Matsuyama.