Lucas Glover’s resurgence continues at FedEx St. Jude Championship

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Lucas Glover’s experiences have spanned the spectrum in his two decades as a professional. He’s withstood the Sunday pressure to win a major championship and been filled with fear while standing over the simplest of shots.

But now, at 43, Glover may be playing the best golf of his career, thanks in large part to a new putter that fixed the ailment that had afflicted him for a decade. Three consecutive finishes of sixth or better preceded Glover’s win at last week’s Wyndham Championship.

He carried his strong play into the opening event of the FedExCup Playoffs, and now takes a one-stroke lead into the final round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship. A win would give Glover the first multiple-win season of his career and more wins in his 40s (3) than in his 20s (2), a surprising statistic considering the impressive resume he compiled while at Clemson.

The secret to Glover’s longevity? A steady demeanor that isn’t impacted greatly by the game’s unpredictability.

“It's never as good as it seems and it's never as bad as it seems,” he said. That philosophy paid off Saturday, with a round that was a microcosm of all that golf offers. A hot start gave Glover the opportunity to run away from the field, while two short misses on the final holes leave him with the smallest of advantages entering Sunday.

Glover is 14-under par after shooting 66 on Saturday at TPC Southwind. He will start the final round with a one-shot lead over Taylor Moore, winner of this year’s Valspar Championship, and two ahead of Tommy Fleetwood. Several of the game’s biggest names are still within reach, as well.

Max Homa and Jordan Spieth are three back, while Rory McIlroy, Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, Tom Kim, Sungjae Im and Emiliano Grillo are within five. They’re facing one of the most penal courses on TOUR, one that’s known for having the most balls hit in the water since ShotLink stats debuted 20 years ago.

It’s a layout that can lead to a wide variety of scores but also one that plays to Glover’s strengths, rewarding strong ballstrikers who can keep their ball safe and dry. He finished third here a year ago and arrived this week as arguably the hottest player on TOUR. He’s projected to move to third in the FedExCup with a win Sunday.

“I'm old enough to know it can change the over way in a hurry, too,” he said earlier this week, “so kind of ride the wave and just don't overthink it.”

Glover chipped in on his first hole Saturday, then made putts from outside 15 feet on Nos. 2 and 4. He was just 1 under par the rest of the day, however, missing a 4-foot birdie putt on 16 and 6-footer for birdie on the final hole.

“Three months ago if you’d told me I'd be mad at 66, I'd say you were crazy,” he said after the round. Glover was sitting around 180th in the FedExCup back in May and desperate for answers. In his first 18 starts of the season, he missed half his cuts and didn’t finish better than T36.

Glover, long known for his accurate iron play, had struggled with the yips for the past decade. He leads the TOUR this season in average approach-shot proximity to the hole but couldn’t convert on the birdie opportunities.

“Anybody who's ever listened to him hit a golf ball knows he's different,” said Homa.

It was the week of the PGA Championship when Glover, who was not in the field, knew he needed to make a change. He was going to try the long putter at the behest of Brad Faxon, the eight-time TOUR winner who now moonlights as a part-time putting coach. If that didn’t work, putting left-handed was Glover’s last resort.

“Nothing I did worked, nothing I practiced worked,” he said. “Brain was just fried.”

Glover debuted the putter, which was built to the same specifications as Adam Scott’s, at the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday. Gone was that “crazy, awful, yippy stroke,” he said. That was enough for the putter to earn its spot in the bag.

Success quickly followed. He finished T20 at the RBC Canadian Open in June, his first top-25 finish of the season. He missed the cut in his next start but then rolled off three consecutive finishes of sixth or better.

Then he won the Wyndham Championship. His struggles had been so severe that even with the strong finish to the Regular Season, he arrived at the Wyndham ranked 112th in the FedExCup, well outside the cutoff to qualify for the Playoffs. He jumped to 49th in the standings after last week’s win but still was not ensured of a spot in next week’s BMW Championship. The top 50 in the FedExCup standings after Sunday will qualify for next week’s second Playoffs stop at Olympia Fields Country Club outside Chicago.

Another win Sunday not only would put Glover in contention to win the FedExCup, but it would also strengthen his 11th-hour Ryder Cup candidacy. He has only represented the United States in one international team competition as a professional, playing in the 2009 Presidents Cup after winning that year’s U.S. Open (he also played in the 2001 Walker Cup as an amateur).

“He's a new man with that new putter,” said McIlroy. Another win Sunday would serve as further proof.