Hoops title gives McCarthy a lesson in toughness
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DALLAS – A month ago in Minneapolis, Denny McCarthy and his friend – and fellow pro golfer -- Ben Kohles sat together at U.S. Bank Stadium for the NCAA men’s basketball championship game. Given that both attended the University of Virginia, their rooting interests were obvious.
The Cavaliers won the title that night, beating Texas Tech in overtime. But in addition to celebrating the Wahoos’ first basketball championship, McCarthy left that Monday evening with something he could take to the course.
“We had great seats and an unbelievable experience,” said McCarthy, who graduated from UVA in 2015 with an Anthropology degree, “and really, honestly, that was actually a learning experience for me just how that team battled, just watching them all year."
“I’m a big basketball fan, played all the way through high school. I went to a ton of games, see how they handle tough situations.”
A few days ago, McCarthy watched with interest as Max Homa won the Wells Fargo Championship, defining the term “resilient” on the PGA TOUR after his career appeared in jeopardy two years ago when he missed 14 of 17 cuts and made less than $20,000. It was another lesson in how toughness and a never-say-die attitude can be rewarded.
“Kind of inspiring, honestly,” McCarthy said. “Things like (Virginia’s win) and things like Max Homa last week …. If they can do that and Max can do that, then I can do that.”
McCarthy certainly did it in Thursday’s first round of the AT&T Byron Nelson.
Four holes in, he double-bogeyed the par-4 fourth after an errant tee shot forced him to take a penalty stroke. He took that negative and turned it into a positive – making 10 birdies in his last 14 holes at Trinity Forest to shoot an 8-under 63, giving him the clubhouse lead after the morning finishers.
“Making that double bogey … kind of calmed me down in a way,” said McCarthy, whose 63 is his lowest score in 123 career rounds on TOUR. “Timid swing off the tee, and from there on out, I told myself I was just going to play really carefree and really aggressive … have fun with it today, just let it go.”
It helps that McCarthy is one of the TOUR’s best putters. He ranks second in Strokes Gained: Putting this season, and he showed why during his birdie run. He made four putts from outside 13 feet and missed only one putt inside 10 feet. Overall, he needed just 22 putts on the round while making nearly 132 feet of putts.
“I’ve been putting great the last couple months,” said McCarthy, who has two top-10s in 17 starts this season. “Kind of matched up the ball-striking with the putting today.”
McCarthy, in his second year on TOUR, has just two top-10s in 17 starts this season Since the calendar flipped to 2019, he’s missed the cut in six of 10 individual stroke-play starts, including last week’s Wells Fargo Championship.
He’s hoping Thursday’s round can be something to build on, particularly from a confidence standpoint.
“I’ve kind of been looking for a round like this just to kind of get me going,” he said.