Denny McCarthy’s early success at the FedEx St. Jude Championship doesn’t tell the full story. The PGA Tour golfer is in Memphis, and he’s now adopting the city’s gritty mentality.
McCarthy is in pain. So much pain that he’s having to alter his swing while dealing with a torn labrum in his hip.
He mostly feels the pain on the downswing. McCarthy has to alter his rotation by pushing up through the ground more than he’s used to. The injury appeared to have surfaced during his Friday round at TPC Southwind, where he shot 63 and sat alone atop the leaderboard when he finished his last hole.
“Yeah, I don’t want to divulge too much,” McCarthy said. “It’s bothering me, and I’ve been able to do enough the last few days to push through it.”
The sweltering Memphis heat sometimes gets a bad reputation for its impact at TPC Southwind, but in the case of McCarthy, it has been helpful. Loosening up the hip is an important for McCarthy to push through, and the heat has been helping him with that.
Pushing through the pain 😤
Leader @_DennyMcCarthy is battling a hip injury @FedExChamp. pic.twitter.com/6bjTMhpmkC
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 16, 2024
“It feels really good,” McCarthy said. “I haven’t been thinking about it too much, which is nice. Just kind of been focused on — sounds cliche, I’ve just been focused on each shot really, trying to put the same amount of importance and focus into each shot.”
McCarthy entered the FedEx St. Jude championship with +15000 odds to win the tournament. Those odds put him just outside of the top 50 projected winners. The 31-year-old is still searching for his first career PGA Tour win despite some impressive performances this season. He notably finished second at the Valero Texas Open in April and had top-7 results at the John Deere Classic and Wells Fargo Championship.
A strong start on Thursday allowed McCarthy to jump ahead and lead the field, but he’ll have to grit and grind his way to the finish line. He did just that on Friday, and he has no intentions of shutting down.
As for after the tournament, McCarthy hasn’t ruled out the idea of surgery.
“I don’t know yet,” McCarthy said. “I’m not looking that far ahead. I’m kind of just focused on trying to get better each day this week, and that’s all I’m really focused on.”
Damichael Cole is the Memphis Grizzlies beat writer for The Commercial Appeal. Contact Damichael at damichael.cole@commercialappeal.com. Follow Damichael on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DamichaelC.
