Matt McCarty (-19) is getting closer to achieving something that, just over two months ago, he couldn’t even imagine. On 14 July, he left the The Ascendant of the Korn Ferry Tour with his third top 10 of the season, dreaming of getting into the fight for the cards. But seven days later, he began an unstoppable run of successes that, this Sunday, puts him 18 holes away from achieving the first victory of his career on the PGA Tour.
On 21 July, he won the Price Cutter Charity Championship, his first triumph in the second division of American golf. On 11 August, he won the Pinnacle Bank Championship. And on 25 August, he triumphed at the Albertsons Boise Open, a third title in the same season of the Korn Ferry Tour that automatically granted him playing rights on the PGA Tour for the rest of the year and secured his card for 2025. He played a couple more tournaments before the FedEx Fall started, but last week he made the leap.
A birdie at the last for good measure.
In just his second start as a PGA TOUR member, @MattMcCarty21 leads by 2️⃣ @BDChampionship! pic.twitter.com/fNkQMWROrI
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 12, 2024
He made the cut at the Sanderson Farms, his debut as a full-fledged member (his only event on the tour to date was the US Open in 2022). And this week, from the first day he handed in a card of 62 strokes, he has been ‘threatening’ to take the lead. He could have done it on Saturday morning when he played his last three holes of the second round, suspended on Friday afternoon due to lack of light, where he arrived with birdie opportunities on the 16th and two strokes behind Jaeger, who was in command, but his day began with three pars to complete his first 36 holes of the tournament.
However, in an endless ‘moving day’ for him, he started a splendid third round where his bogey on the first hole of the Black Desert Resort ended up being an anecdote. He closed his first nine holes with a splendid series of four birdies and an eagle between the flags of the 4th and the 8th. His eagle was undoubtedly the shot of the day in the tournament, a spectacular chip from off the green on the par five of the 7th. And the second half of his round, which also began with a bogey, he completed with three more birdies, including one on the 18th (almost another eagle from the fairway shortly before), to lead a PGA Tour tournament for the first time in his budding career.
Birdie
Birdie
Birdie
Eagle
BirdieA stellar front nine so far for solo leader @MattMcCarty21! pic.twitter.com/dqT6zs1Ehk
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) October 12, 2024
A brilliant 64 for the golfer from Scottsdale who, at 26 years old, will seek his fourth victory in his last 10 tournaments, between Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour, and win for the first time on the tour in his third tournament, something that Garrick Higgo, at the Palmetto Championship in 2021, was the last to achieve. A trophy that, in addition to a cheque of more than 1.3 million dollars, would place him among the top 100 in the circuit’s overall standings, secure him two years of a card, up to and including 2025, and give him a ticket to next year’s Masters.
To do so, however, he will have to finish the job this Sunday against four players tied for second place, two strokes behind, who will not make it easy. Harris English (-17), four-time tour winner, Kevin Streelman (-17), with two wins, Stephan Jaeger (-17), who opened his record this year at the Houston Open, and Joe Highsmith (-17), who like McCarty is chasing his first victory after a tremendous 62 this Saturday, will try to prevent the 26-year-old golfer from Arizona from closing three unforgettable months in his career.
“It’s comfortable to be back in the desert,” he said after his round. “I like the views and it’s a fantastic place to be and play,” he added. “It’s hard not to think about everything that comes for someone who wins here, two years of exemption, entry into the Masters… But it’s been a long day, I’m a bit tired, so I’m going to watch football and go to bed early,” he concluded. And today, to try to finish the job.
