Our Clients:

Field Level Media - Professional sports content solutions | FLM

Aug 7, 2025 6:09 pm

Akshay Bhatia fires 62 to set early pace at FedEx St. Jude

bhatia
Photo by: Steve Roberts-Imagn Images

MEMPHIS — Akshay Bhatia fired an 8-under-par 62 in Thursday’s first round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship to grab a one-stroke lead over England’s Tommy Fleetwood in the opening event of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs.

Fleetwood made a late charge up the leaderboard by birdieing the final four holes for his 7-under 63 at TPC Southwind.

Two strokes behind Bhatia at 6-under 64 are Bud Cauley and Englishmen Harry Hall and Justin Rose. Si Woo Kim of Korea shot 65.

Collin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler, Maverick McNealy, Russell Henley and Ben Griffin are four back after 4-under 66s. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler had a chance to join them, but his short par putt on 18 slid past the hole and he settled for a 67.

Bhatia tossed aside a season filled mostly with disappointment to move atop the leaderboard. His strong start included four birdies on the front nine and an eagle-3 on the par-5 16th hole. The only blemish on Bhatia’s scorecard was a bogey on the par-4 12th. He closed in impressive fashion, following the eagle on No. 16 with birdie putts on Nos. 17 and 18.

“I felt like I wasn’t putting great throughout the day, but then those last couple putts managed to drop,” Bhatia said. “All in all, I felt like (my) iron play was nice. I just need to kind of clean up a couple things, like a couple wedge shots, and get a little more comfortable with the putter, but all in all, I felt like I was driving it nice.”

The 62 represented Bhatia’s low round on tour this season, one stroke better than his third-round total at the 3M Open last month and his opening round at the Truist Championship in May.

After opening the 2025 season with three top-10 finishes during the first three months, Bhatia has struggled. He has not recorded a top-10 since his third-place finish at The Players Championship in March. He also has missed four cuts and withdrawn after one round in another event.

“I’ve been looking at a lot of numbers that I don’t need to look at, obviously FedEx Cup, world ranking, and I’m still doing it, and I still catch myself doing it,” Bhatia said. “But I’m just really trying to have a little more peace on the golf course.

“I think this game can consume your life, your happiness, and so I’m just trying to figure out ways to change that because I feel like I don’t really want to live my life based off of an unstable game. That’s going to drive me nuts. This whole year it has, so I’m just trying to be just a little more at ease with whatever I shoot.”

Fleetwood has had five top-10 finishes this season, including a near-victory at the Travelers Championship in June when he was runner-up to Keegan Bradley.

On Thursday, he was even after seven holes, but shot 7-under across his final 11 holes.

“I felt like I hadn’t made the most of any of the chances that I had given myself (early in the round), and I think just being patient through that stretch and then I eventually got something going,” said Fleetwood, in his 15th year on Tour.

Cauley, who has never won a PGA Tour event, closed strong to make a run at Bhatia. Cauley birdied Nos. 10, 12, 15, 16 and 17, all of the putts inside 15 feet. He had moved to 7 under, but his approach on 18 found water and a bogey dropped him back to 6 under.

Hall, who played in the same group with Bhatia, had a bogey-free round. Rose, the runner-up to McIlroy at the Masters, had seven birdies and only one bogey.

The top 70 in the FedEx Cup points standings qualified for the St. Jude, but second-ranked Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, the reigning Masters champion, opted to skip the playoff opener.

Those who finish Sunday ranked in the top 50 of the FedEx Cup points standings qualify for the second round of the playoffs to be held next week in Owings Mills, Md. The top 50 also will be eligible for each of eight PGA Tour signature events in 2026.

–Phil Stukenborg, Field Level Media

You may also like

miranda wang
Aug 29, 2025 9:03 pm

Miranda Wang owns two-stroke lead in weather-delayed FM Championships

China’s Miranda Wang followed up her first round of 6-under par 65 with a 66 on Friday and has a two-stroke lead in the weather-delayed FM Championship in Newton, Mass….

allisen corpuz
Aug 28, 2025 8:47 pm

Three tied at the top in first round of FM Championships

Allisen Corpuz, England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff and South Korea’s Sei Young Kim shot 7 under par rounds of 65 and are tied at the top of the leaderboard at the…

hawaii, golf
Aug 27, 2025 7:42 pm

Parched Kapalua closing for 60 days with PGA Tour’s Sentry in mind

Water restrictions due to drought conditions in Hawaii could put the PGA Tour’s season-opening event in peril, after it was revealed this week the course that hosts the event will…

More Golf News

miranda wang
Aug 29, 2025 9:03 pm

Miranda Wang owns two-stroke lead in weather-delayed FM Championships

China’s Miranda Wang followed up her first round of 6-under par 65 with a 66 on Friday and has a two-stroke lead in the weather-delayed FM Championship in Newton, Mass….

allisen corpuz
Aug 28, 2025 8:47 pm

Three tied at the top in first round of FM Championships

hawaii, golf
Aug 27, 2025 7:42 pm

Parched Kapalua closing for 60 days with PGA Tour’s Sentry in mind

tommy fleetwood
Aug 27, 2025 1:20 pm

Tommy Fleetwood’s Tour Championship win scores NBC big ratings

nelly korda
Aug 27, 2025 12:21 pm

Golf Glance: Elite LPGA field takes center stage at TPC Boston

Read all
fb-post
advertisment
title-icon

Upcoming events

See all odds
[gs-fb-comments]