Willy Z’s charge up the board, Rickie Fowler’s quintuple among 5 takeaways from Saturday at the FedEx St. Jude

J.J. Spaun remains the leader at 13 under, with a clutch birdie on the 17th to help him take advantage. He won the Valero Texas Open earlier this year and would move to No. 2 in the FedEx Cup standings with a win.

Sepp Straka, who missed six straight cuts heading into the FedEx St. Jude Championship, is one shot back at 12 under.

However, plenty of big names sit close behind and are ready to pounce.

Smith, the 2022 Champion Golfer of the Year, birdied the 18th hole and is at 11 under. Tony Finau sits at 9 under, and he has won his last two starts on Tour. Sam Burns, who has won three times this year, and 2022 U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick sit at 9 under. Collin Morikawa and Tom Kim are in a pack at 8 under.

Although Spaun has the lead now, he will have plenty of chasers come Sunday.

“I know I’ve got to play better than I did today tomorrow,” Spaun said. “You look at the names … major champions and multiple winners and you’ve got really hot golfers that are, you know, just playing really good. It’s not going to be easy tomorrow, and I don’t think if I play like how I did today, like I don’t think that will be enough. I’m just going to give it all I’ve got and hopefully make some more birdies than I did today.”