Matt McCarty carded a 64 featuring an eagle at the par-5 7th, seven birdies and two bogeys on Saturday to reach 19-under and take a two-shot lead into the final day at the Black Desert Championship.
The American is playing in his third start on the PGA Tour, which would be the least number of starts before winning since Garrick Higgo won the 2021 Palmetto Championship at Congaree in his second start.
A win on Sunday would come at the age of 26 years, 10 months and 2 days and would be his fourth win in his last ten combined starts on the Korn Ferry Tour and PGA Tour.
McCarty has already secured the No. 1 spot on the Korn Ferry Tour points list, which comes with a Tour card for the 2025 season and exemptions into The Players Championship and US Open in 2025.
“Simply just learn how to win,” he said of his experience on the Korn Ferry Tour. “The experience of being in contention out there, I think it’s very similar to kind of what I felt today, and honestly helped me just kind of feel a little bit calmer about it.
“But, yeah, it definitely all kind of builds upon itself. You know, the last three months have been great in order to kind of get to that spot. Really excited for tomorrow.”
Fellow American rookie Joe Highsmith carded a career-low 9-under 62 for a share of second place at 17-under as he seeks his first win in his 25th Tour start. He has recorded one top-10 finish so far at the 2024 Puerto Rico Open (T6).
Two-time PGA Tour winner Kevin Streelman of he US also lies in second place in his 271st start since his last win at the 2014 Travelers Championship and his 26th start since his last top-10 finish (2023 3M Open/T2). He finished T42 at last week’s Sanderson Farms Championship for his 300th made cut on Tour.
Also in second place after a 66 is American four-time Tour winner Harris English who is playing in his 70th start since his last win at the 2021 Travelers Championship.
Overnight leader Stephan Jaeger signed for a 68 and moved down into a share of second place.
“It was a struggle today. I felt like I almost hit it like 35, 40 feet on a lot of holes and these greens, when you’re that far away they have a lot of slope in between the hole and you,” said Jaeger.
“They tucked the pins a little bit more, too. You got to be pretty on and pretty aggressive into the greens. Some fit my eye and some I had to play away from it.
“Wish I had a couple more putts to fall. The one on 18 was nice. Yeah, putter was cold today. Overall, still a nice round.”
Nos. 1-50 in the FedExCup standings through the Tour Championship are locked in their positions, while Nos. 51 and beyond carry their FedExCup points into the Fall. Nos. 51-60 through the FedExCup Fall will qualify for two Signature Events in 2025: AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, The Genesis Invitational
No players are currently projected to move into Nos. 51-60.
The Top 125 will be exempt into all Full-Field events and The Players next season and Nos. 126-150 will earn full Korn Ferry Tour status and conditional status on Tour next season.
Currently projected to move into the Top 125: Matt McCarty (1st; from No. 232 to No. 94), Joe Highsmith (T2; from No. 149 to No. 118), Henrik Norlander (T10; from No. 131 to No. 122).
Currently projected to fall out of the Top 125: Vince Whaley (T65; from No. 121 to No. 128), Taylor Montgomery (MC; from No. 124 to No. 129), Michael Kim (MC; from No. 125 to No. 130)
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