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J.J. Spaun closed with a 67 on Friday to hold on to the outright lead at 11-under in the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
“Definitely wind,” said the American. “I think it was probably blowing a solid 10 to 15 consistently all day and then got a couple gusts maybe higher than that. That makes things tougher and you’ve got to take more aggressive lines, start lines over water or, you know, taking it, you know, more of a riskier approach when you have the wind factored in today. I think that was the biggest difference than yesterday.
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“I was just kind of trying to see what other guys were doing just to kind of understand how the course was playing. Like I didn’t — like 3 under compared to yesterday, you’re getting lapped, right, but today 3 under was pretty solid. It was important for me to kind of keep an eye on that and not let myself get too ahead of myself or also think, oh, I’m getting lapped out here shooting 3 under if I’m not paying attention to what’s going on. So I think I did a good job of that and took what the course gave me.
“I feel good. It’s exciting. Still a lot of golf left. Just going to try to keep doing what I’ve been doing the last two days and hopefully it will pay off.”
Compatriot Troy Meritt shot 67 for a share of second place at 10-under alongside Austria’s Sepp Straka (66).
Denny McCarthy also shot a 65 and lies in solo fourth place at 9-under followed by fellow Americans Brian Harman (66), Tony Finau (68), making his elevent consecutive round in the 60s and Ryan Palmer (67) as well as Australian Cameron Smith (65).
World number 1 Scottie Scheffler carded a 68, just missing the cut at 1-under.
“Obviously, it’s really frustrating coming into the playoffs,” said Scheffler. “I was practicing really hard at home, actually playing really good, and I showed up and had the worst putting day ever. Golf smacks you in the face sometimes.”
Among those also missing the cut were Rory McIlroy, who closed with a 74 to tie with Scheffler, and Jordan Spieth whose own 74 left him with a 4-over finish.
