It was not the best of starts for the Indian origin quartet as they had modest opening rounds at the FedEx St. Jude Championship
It was not the best of starts for the Indian origin quartet as they had modest opening rounds at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first of the three play-off events on the PGA Tour in Memphis. Sahith Theegala was the best of the four at T-26 with a round of 1-under 69, while Sudarshan Yellamaraju, who had a double bogey and an eagle on successive holes was the next best at T-37 with a round with a card of even par 70.
Akshay Bhatia (72) and the PGA Champion Aaron Rai (72) were Tied-53rd.
Meanwhile, Jordan Spieth, who is winless in more than four years, showed that he could be a winner this week, as he was bogey-free for a 5-under 65 that gave him a share of the five-way lead in the first round. It also increased his chances of making it to the next event in the Play-offs.
Spieth and Kim are outside the top 50 in the FedExCup, who advance to the BMW Championship next week. So, they need decent finishes to stay on in the Play-offs. Last year Spieth was 48th and then fell out of Top-50 ahead of the second event.
The Hero backed Theegala opened and closed with a birdie and in between he had two other birdies and then bogeys, including back-to-back dropped shots on the 14th and 15th.
Bhatia, also supported by Hero, had two birdies against four bogeys, three of which came between the 10th and the 14th on the back nine.
Spieth opened with eight pars, finally got a putt to fall, and then ran off four birdies in a five-hole stretch, including a 40-footer on the par-3 14th. Mostly, no bogeys on the card was a plus.
EOM
