Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama produced an outstanding round of 64 to open up a five-stroke lead heading into Sunday’s final round of the PGA St Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis.
Matsuyama, the 2021 Masters winner, is on 17-under for the tournament with 20-year-old American Nick Dunlap five shots back and Norway’s Victor Hovland on 11-under. The event is the opening of the three FedEx Cup playoff tournaments and current Cup standings leader Scottie Scheffler, who shot 69, is tied for fourth with fellow American Sam Burns, both seven strokes behind Matsuyama. Matsuyama’s round got off to an eventful start with a birdie on the par-4 first and a bogey on the par-4 second before an eagle on the par-5 third set him on his way.
The 32-year-old was outstanding on the green as he made four more birdies to open up his lead.
Matsuyama said his decision to change putters had paid off for him. “I did put a new putter in the bag, and it has been behaving very well. I’ve had the putter for a while, and I thought, well, it might be a good week to debut that putter. But I might change putters tonight even,” he said.