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DUBLIN, Ohio (AP) — Denny McCarthy’s name was mentioned prominently even before the Memorial began, and then he lived up to the praise over two days at Muirfield Village.
McCarthy took only 25 putts Friday — he only had 24 putts the day before — for a 3-under 69 that gave him a one-shot lead and set the target for the rest of the afternoon.
McCarthy was at 7-under 137, one shot ahead of PGA Tour rookie Davis Riley (71) and two clear of Rory McIlroy (69) among the early starters.
In his fifth year on the PGA Tour, McCarthy is winless in 127 starts and has yet to make it to the penultimate FedEx Cup playoff event. In two previous appearances at Muirfield Village, he had not broken 70.
For those who don’t pore over the litany of statistics available on the PGA Tour, it was a little surprising when McIlroy was asked earlier in the week whom he considered the better putters in today’s game. He mentioned Jordan Spieth. Everyone knows him. He was impressed with Sam Burns, a three=time winner over the last eight months.
And he mentioned McCarthy.
“These are my kind of greens,” McCarthy said of the fast, contoured greens on the course Jack Nicklaus built.
He has a knack for being able to read long, sweeping breaks and making his share of them. One of those Friday was from 40 feet in the closely mown fairway short of the green on the par-3 fourth hole. He had another birdie from 15 feet on the 17th. The others were inside 10 feet.
Told of McIlroy’s comments earlier in the week, McCarthy smiled and said, “I would like to drive it like Rory.”
“Everyone has the best part of their game. Obviously putting is part of mine,” said McCarthy, who is No. 5 in the key putting statistic for the year. “Driving the ball is the best part of his game. I’m no slouch around the course, like putting is not the only thing I do well. Everyone brings up my putter; yes, I’m a good putter. But I need to do good things to get to those putts.”
McIlroy has only played with McCarthy…
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Source : yahoo
