In just his 16th PGA Tour start and second major appearance, Tour rookie Matt McCarty has found himself in contention going into the weekend at the Masters.
The 27-year-old put together a solid first round Thursday, shooting 1-under 71. On Friday, things looked to be getting away from McCarty early as he double-bogeyed the first hole and then bogeyed the par-5 2nd. He got it together, though, and made four straight birdies to close out the first nine and make the turn in 35.
McCarty would make four more birdies on the second nine before a three-putt bogey on the last. The second-round 68 got him in the clubhouse at 5 under, three shots behind leader Justin Rose after the Englishman's 1-under round.
“I hit the ball a lot better than the first two holes; made some putts. I don’t know, just kind of stuck with the game plan. I didn’t let myself get too rattled,” McCarty said. “Just stayed focused and didn’t think about what happened earlier and kind of moved on, and it was good.”
McCarty is inexperienced in the majors—his only previous start was at the 2022 U.S. Open, a missed cut—but he's had some success so far early in his career. At the 2024 Black Desert Championship, McCarty secured his first PGA Tour win in only his third career start, finishing at 23 under and winning by three shots.
The lefty earned his PGA Tour card through an incredible 2024 Korn Ferry Tour season, where he won three times in six weeks to secure the rare three-win promotion.
While McCarty isn’t extremely long off the tee, his accuracy and short game have been consistent so far on the PGA Tour.
McCarty also spoke to the media about his comfort around Augusta National despite having never played a competitive round at the course.
“Me and my dad came in ’09 so I was 11 or 12 and I remember it being hilly and good sweet tea and moon pies and everything," he explained. “I came out the week before the Players, spent four days here, so played like a little mock tournament with myself, which was good, because the first day we were out here, it was kind of like this morning, like really soft and a little colder and windy. Good prep.
Then took last week off and got out here Saturday afternoon, so gave myself some time to learn this place.
“I feel comfortable around it. I think if you can kind of play smart golf and hit good golf shots you'll be all right.”
Fuzzy Zoeller is the last player to win in his Masters debut, in 1979.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Who is Matt McCarty? Meet the Rookie Who Catapulted Into Masters Contention Friday.
