Denny McCarthy’s name has been near the top of so many leaderboards over the last several years, it’s hard to believe he has yet to notch a victory on the PGA Tour.

But at the halfway point of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the 31-year-old is once again in familiar territory, co-leading the first FedEx Cup playoff tournament by one shot, alongside Hideki Matsuyama.

In the last two PGA Tour seasons, McCarthy has been a pillar of consistency, with two runner-ups, 11 top 10s and 21 top-25 finishes. This week, ranked No. 45 in the FedEx Cup standings, he’s powering through a hip injury in an attempt to ensure his place in the top 50, thereby cementing his eligibility for the eight Signature Events on the 2025 PGA Tour schedule. But, with a one-shot lead and 36 holes left to play, he could achieve far more than that. And after firing the low round of the day on Friday, seven-under 63, along with Viktor Hovland and Sam Burns, momentum is seemingly on his side.

But McCarthy knows better than most how fickle the game can be, and after his second round, he opened up about the challenges of staying the course when wins remain elusive.

“I’ve just got to keep doing what I’m doing. We play a really hard sport,” he said. “Some of the guys out here make it look really easy, and that’s frustrating at times when those guys continue to play well and I continue to maybe struggle here or there, get there every once in a while.

“It’s hard to win out here. It’s hard to put yourself in contention,” he continued. “I’ve just got to remind myself that we play a really hard game, and it’s not for a lack of trying when I don’t play well. I care a lot and I’m very competitive. It’s just sometimes you’ve just got to be patient. Sometimes the process just takes a little longer than you want.”

The years of experience McCarthy has accrued on the PGA Tour are starting to pay off, he said.

“This is my seventh year out here,” he said. “I know all these courses really well, so I feel really comfortable on them. I know where to hit it. I know where not to hit it. I know how certain putts break. I know how putts might not break. So I feel really comfortable with a lot of the golf courses we play.

“My game has gotten a lot better tee to green,” he continued. “The numbers don’t really show that, but I know that I’ve put in the work, and I feel a lot more comfortable on harder, demanding shots. That just puts me in a better frame of mind where I can hit a lot of shots that maybe I wasn’t able to hit as comfortably or as consistent.”

As for his strategy for the next 36 holes? If there’s anything McCarthy’s close calls have taught him, it’s that he shouldn’t get ahead of himself.

“I’m going to try and just keep getting better and just try and focus on myself and hitting the golf shots and what I can control,” he said. “I think I was maybe just holding on a little too tight, caring a little too much. So I’ve tried to just get it go a little bit more.

“I’ve been getting a little too caught up and worried and anxious about some of the results instead of — the results of each shot instead of just focusing on the process, kind of what I need to do in my swing, committing to a target and hitting the shot and not caring so much about where it goes because if I do those things right in my process, it usually goes in a good direction.”

Two more days of play like today for McCarthy, and that direction may, for the first time, point straight toward Victory Lane.

Golf.com Editor

As a four-year member of Columbia’s inaugural class of female varsity golfers, Jessica can out-birdie everyone on the masthead. She can out-hustle them in the office, too, where she’s primarily responsible for producing both print and online features, and overseeing major special projects, such as GOLF’s inaugural Style Is­sue, which debuted in February 2018. Her origi­nal interview series, “A Round With,” debuted in November of 2015, and appeared in both in the magazine and in video form on GOLF.com.