Jordan Spieth hasn’t won on the PGA Tour in more than four years. He has work to do just to make the top 50 of the FedEx Cup playoffs. But his first round of the playoff opener was packed with promise.
Spieth posted a bogey-free, 5-under-par 65 Thursday and is part of a five-way tie for the lead at the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis.
Michael Thorbjornsen, Kurt Kitayama, Michael Kim and Jake Knapp are level with Spieth after one round of the first leg of the playoffs. Seven more are a shot behind at 4-under 66: Tommy Fleetwood of England, Hideki Matsuyama of Japan, Sungjae Im of South Korea, Australia’s Adam Scott, Gary Woodland, Chris Gotterup and Bud Cauley.
Of the 70 players to qualify for the playoffs, Spieth was the only one who managed to do so without a single top-10 in an event. His mediocre year still left him 54th in the points race, but only the top 50 after Sunday move on to the BMW Championship next week.
Spieth would certainly vault into the top 50 with a strong finish, and Thursday’s round sent him on his way. All five of his birdies came in a seven-hole stretch; after opening with eight consecutive pars, he birdied the ninth hole before draining a 40 1/2-foot birdie putt at the par-3 11th.
That kicked off a stretch of three birdies in a row, featuring a 24 1/2-footer at No. 13, before he closed the spurt with a 17 1/2-footer at the 15th.
There’s plenty of reason for Spieth to feel confident, but he indicated Thursday that he believed he’s been playing better golf than his results showed.
“I just missed a lot of those big events of just finishing in the top 20 like I did most of the other events this year, which would have left this week to be completely stress-free,” Spieth said. “But outside looking in versus inside trying to hold onto it is a little different mentality, maybe helpful, but after a good start that all changes, right?
“… I’m just in a very different place about the game of golf than I was the last couple seasons heading into this event. Again, if it’s going to work out, great. If it doesn’t, I know next year is going to be an awesome year for me. So it takes a lot of the stress off of this week.”
Thorbjornsen is fresh off his first PGA Tour victory two weeks ago at the Rocket Classic. Despite playing sick amid the near-100-degree heat, he finished Thursday with two birdies and an eagle across his final four holes.
“I’m on antibiotics right now. I think 24 hours is around right now, and then giving myself another 24 hours, I should be feeling much better,” he said.
Kitayama is highest of the five co-leaders in the points race entering the week, at No. 33. Knapp is one of the tour’s fun stories, as someone who broke through with a victory in 2024 a few years after losing Korn Ferry Tour status and working as a nightclub bouncer.
And Kim is in the same position as Spieth, entering the week in the danger zone at No. 61 and needing a strong showing in Memphis to enter the top 50.
“Comfortable with the golf course, not with the heat,” Kim said. “… You don’t have to bomb it. You just have to kind of pick your spots here and there and try to give yourself as many birdie looks because the greens aren’t too crazy out here. Just giving myself as many looks as I can, and I rolled a bunch of them in today.”
Knapp both opened and closed his round by making three straight birdies, dulling the negative effect of consecutive bogeys at Nos. 6-7.
The group at 3-under 67 features Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns, Patrick Rodgers and Australian Min Woo Lee.
World No. 1 and FedEx Cup points leader Scottie Scheffler opened with a 2-under 68. And Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy finished his day bogey-bogey-double bogey to plummet from even par to a 4-over 74.
Of the 69 players competing, McIlroy is 68th, ahead of only Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre (12-over 72). Daniel Berger did not enter the event despite qualifying due to injury.
–Field Level Media
