Denny

McCarthy

McCarthy was dialed in from start to finish today. He gained more than a stroke over the field in all four sub-categories of strokes gained. “The back nine here is one of my favorite nine holes on TOUR. It’s very risk-reward. If you’re playing well you can shoot 5-, 6-under; if you’re not playing well it can beat you up.” He signed a 5-under 30 on that back nine today on his way toward a career-low round (Preivously a 61 at the 2019 Greenbrier). This will go in the books as his second time holding a first-round lead or co-lead on the PGA TOUR (2019 AT&T Byron Nelson, T23).

McCarthy’s known for his putting skills and they certainly showed up on Sunday as gained 3.5 strokes putting in round four. He splashed home four putts from outside of 10 feet including a 22'2" birdie at the second. McCarthy ended the week ranked first in strokes gained putting (+11.3). This wasn’t his first taste of success at Jack’s place as he landed a T5 finish here last year. This will go in the books as his new personal-best finish on the PGA TOUR. He remains on the hunt for his breakout win and three of his five career top 5s have been accomplished with single-digit scores so his win is more likely to come on a tough track, if those trends are telling the right story. “I like hard golf courses. I like championship golf. Like I said, I’m a very fierce competitor, so when the lights are the brightest and everyone’s watching these elevated events and major golf championships, I love that.”

McCarthy led the field in putting this week (+8.6 SG:Putting) but it was his irons that got the job done today. He gained more than half a stroke on four different approach shots today, racking up 3.9 strokes gained approach by round’s end (1st). Not only was this the lowest lap recorded today, only three other golfers got within two shots of him. It was a strong finish for McCarthy who is now 44th in the FedExCup race.

The weather has delayed play this week at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am so golfers knew they were set for a Monday finish when play was suspended on Saturday. Even with the pro-am portion shifted to 54 holes, they weren’t given enough time to finish their rounds today. They saw soft conditions today and one person who took advantage was Denny McCarthy who roared out of the gate with seven birdies on his outward nine while trading two birdies with two bogeys over his next six holes before play was called due to lack of daylight. McCarthy was tied for second place at day’s end as he searches for his first PGA TOUR win. He has four top 5s with a T3 at the 2021 Honda Classic being the best of that bunch.

McCarthy was dialed in from tee-to-green today with 10-of-14 fairways hit (T8) and 17 GIR (T2). “You got to be really precise. I did a really good job of that. Only missed a few shots today. Little upset about a couple of the six-footers I missed coming in. I also made a couple 20-, 25-footers today, so I guess that evened out a little bit.” He walked off the course gaining 2.4 strokes putting so those long bombs successfully erased the shorter misses. McCarthy twirled a T48 last year in his Sony Open debut with boom-or-bust rounds of 71-64-71-66 and today’s round will certainly go in the “boom” column.

McCarthy started his week at the betting favorite and while he didn’t hoist the hardware, he certainly proved his place atop the odds board to be worthy. McCarthy was one of just six golfers to twirl four sub-70 rounds this week. He got the job done with a steady attack this week, ranked T27 in GIR percentage (17th among cut-makers that played in windy weekend conditions) and 7th in putts per GIR. This will be his 16th career top 10 on the PGA TOUR (140 starts). While he was originally in the field for next week’s Mayakoba event, he did back out so we’ll have to wait at least a week before we see him in action again.

McCarthy started the week as the pre-tournament betting favorite and he’s living up to the hype through 18 holes. He split just 8 (of 14) fairways today but still managed 16 GIR (T9) to allow his putter to shine. McCarthy turned that into nine birdies which erased a lone blemish. He’s now been T16 or better after 6-of-13 rounds played at Port Royal Golf Course. McCarthy has four career top 5s including a T4 at this event two years ago.

McCarthy is a regular at this event, having played each of the three previous instances of the tournament. He’s landed a T15, T4, and T39 in those three starts and the betting markets like him to contend again. He’s opened as a 17/1 favorite in the outright market. McCarthy ended last season ranked 2nd in strokes gained putting but just 114th in tee-to-green play. He’s still searching for his maiden win with his career-best finish being a T3 at the 2021 Honda Classic.

The 29-year-old, vying for a first PGA TOUR title in 131 events, ends on a sour note with four birdies against four bogeys, including a walk-off, 3-putt bogey at the last (from 39'9"), but does notch his third top 10 in his last four starts. On 10 (of 14) fairways and 12 greens in regulation, he gained 0.691 strokes around but lost ground in each of the other SG sub-categories, lowlighted by a -1.710 SG: Putting. This was the UVA alum’s fourth Deere and second payday (T34/2018), his fifth top 10 of the season in 25 events, which is a new career high, previously four in 2020 (in 23 events), and is not in the published field at either of the two events scheduled for this coming week. For the festivities, he posted rounds of 66-65-66-71, was the only player with multiple bogey-free laps (R2/R3), and ranked 9th SG: Tee-to-Green (8.143) and 30th SGP (2.524).

The 29-year-old began off 10 tee on Day 1 and bogeyed his seventh hole (par-3 16th), but hasn’t dropped another shot since, playing his last 47 holes in error-free 15-under. Today, on 12 (of 14) fairways and all 18 greens in regulation, he circled three first-half birdies at 2, 3 and 8, stalled out to eight consecutive pars, but ended on a high note with two more for the good at 17 and 18. The UVA alum, who will be in the penultimate pairing on Sunday with first-timer Emiliano Grillo, owns one podium among 14 top 10s in 130 events, a backdoor T3 at last season’s Honda Classic, where he was T18 (seven back) thru 54 holes. Thru 54 holes this week, he’s totaled 17 birdies against the one bogey, and ranks 6th SG: Tee-to-Green (7.794) and 16th SG: Putting (4.234), including a 0.965 SGP on Saturday. See link below to post-round comments.