Denny McCarthy leads the field at the FedEX St. Jude Championship Headed into Saturday

The former UVA golfer leads a loaded field with Scottie Scheffler headed into the final two days of the FedEX St. Jude Championship

Aug 16, 2024; Memphis, Tennessee, USA; Dennis McCarthy plays his shot from the tenth tee during the second round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship golf tournament at TPC Southwind. Mandatory Credit: Steve Roberts-USA TODAY Sports / Steve Roberts-USA TODAY Sports

Two days into the FedEX St. Jude Championship, former Virginia golfer Denny McCarthy leads the field after shooting a 63 (-7) on Friday to propel himself to the top of the leaderboard at -11 headed into the weekend. McCarthy is currently tied with recent Olympic Bronze medalist Hideki Matsuyama with Sam Burns and world No. 1 ranked golfer Scottie Scheffler close behind at -10 and -9, respectively.

The FedEX St. Jude Championship is the first of three tournaments in the FedEX Cup Playoffs that begins with the top 70 golfers from the tour. After this tournament the field shrinks to 50 for the BMW Championship before shrinking to 30 golfers for the Tour Championship to end the playoffs.

McCarthy has put himself in an excellent position to move on to the next round but has his eyes set on the 3.6 million dollar cash prize that goes to first place this weekend, rounding out a massive 20 million dollar purse.

This is McCarthy's second shot at victory this season after nearly winning his first tour event at the Valero Texas Open by making seven straight birdies for a back nine 28 to force a playoff. Despite the incredible performance to force a playoff, McCarthy's comeback fell short in the playoff against Akshay Bhatia.

At UVA, McCarthy was a two-time All-American during his four years in Charlottesville. While he was a Senior at Virginia, McCarthy helped Team USA win the World Amateur Team Championship alongside Bryon DeChambeau and Beau Hossler.

With the lead in hand, McCarthy is paired with co-leader Matsuyama and Burns who is one stroke behind with the three teeing off at 12:46 PM. Heading into the tournament McCarthy was the 44th ranked golfer on the PGA Tour and 40th in the world according to ESPN.