On Thursday, Rory McIlroy used one of his most reliable clubs, while Scottie Scheffler benefited from a brand-new acquisition. While competing in the FedExCup’s headlining group, they both shot 67.
After the first round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, the first match of the FedExCup Playoffs, McIlroy and Scheffler are all four shots behind leader Jordan Spieth, while Jon Rahm is 10 shots back.
After receiving a number of foul shots at TPC Southwind, he shot 73.
The location for this week is renowned for being one of the TOUR’s harshest courses. Since ShotLink stats were introduced 20 years ago, no course has seen more balls hit the water. It demonstrated its penchant for rewarding the accurate with birdie opportunities while punishing the wayward.
Rahm’s tee shots on holes 16, 18, and the second par-4 forced him to accept an unplayable lie. Rahm also put a tee shot out of bounds on hole 16. In the 70-player field, the FedExCup leader ended just three players ahead. But even with Thursday’s troubles, Rahm is still expected to maintain his lead in the FedExCup rankings. He entered the week 174 points clear of Scheffler and more than 1,000 points ahead of McIlroy after winning four times this year.
The field was forced to tee off both Nos. 1 and 10 on Thursday due to bad weather, which prevented the field from playing in pairings off the first tee. The top three players in the FedExCup and the Official World Golf Ranking were paired together.
If Rahm’s two closest rivals, who will compete against him again on Friday, can build on some of the encouraging signals they showed on Thursday, they may be able to pass him in the FedExCup standings. By hitting 10 of 14 fairways, McIlroy outperformed the competition in terms of Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Driving Distance. By hitting 10 of 14 fairways, McIlroy outperformed the competition in terms of Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee and Driving Distance.
“At least in recent memory, I don’t think I can recall a round where I drove it so well. I gave myself so many stares from the fairway today because I drove it pretty well. After a sluggish beginning, the eagle on 16 eventually gave me a boost.” McIlroy said.
He claimed he put himself in a position to potentially shoot a 63 or 64, but expressed disappointment that he was unable to take advantage of the numerous scoring opportunities he had.
When he shot his 205-yard approach to 1 foot on the 16th par-5, McIlroy almost made albatross.
McIlroy’s back nine saw three birdies and two bogeys after reaching the turn in 2-under 33. After making par on the first two holes of the day, he birdied the ninth hole, his final one of the day.
Scheffler lamented his poor start as well. After striking his tee shot into the sea on the 14th par-3, he played his first six holes with a score of two over par. On the following hole, he missed a 6-foot birdie putt as well, but he finished the front nine with birdies on holes 16 and 18 to move back to even par, and he then scored three straight birdies on holes 2-4.
“Although it was upsetting, I handled it well and played some excellent golf after that,” he said.
On his back nine alone, he improved more than two strokes, which he attributes to becoming more comfortable with the putter he started using this week. He switched to a TaylorMade Spider mallet from his regular blade.
“Today, I made a number of extremely good putts. Today, I hit my queue rather frequently, and I felt really secure on the course,” he said.
After hitting birdies on two of his first six holes, Rahm actually finished last in the group. But after that, his driver cost him. Rahm hasn’t shot higher than par in the first round of consecutive tournaments since 2018; except for this time. But he might find comfort in the fact that, prior to coming in second at The Open Championship, he also had a round score of 3-over.
