Rory McIlroy’s lack of sharpness was exposed as he struggled in the first round of the St Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis. The Northern Irishman – playing for the first time since last month’s Open – opened with a four-over-par 74. This tournament is the first of three to close out the FedEx Cup playoffs on the PGA Tour.
Jordan Spieth – without a top-10 all season on tour – rediscovered his form to join recent Rocket Classic winner Michael Thorbjornsen and Kurt Kitayama in a share of the clubhouse lead on five-under-par 65,.
For McIlroy, though, the return to tournament action proved hugely disappointing. The world No 2 finished six-five-six – bogey, bogey, double bogey – in a poor conclusion to his round. On the par-four 18th, he drove into the water and after taking a penalty drop, then missed the green with his approach. That left him towards the bottom of the field, which was held up by Bob MacIntyre, who had an 82.
McIlroy will still be looking to play his way into the tournament, but he will do so with his eyes drifting ahead to next week’s BMW Championship in St Louis and the following week’s Tour Championship at East Lake. By that stage, he will be hoping the rustiness in his game has gone.
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McIlroy was paired with world No 1 Scottie Scheffler, who posted an opening round 68. “I felt like I hit a lot of quality shots with my irons,” said Scheffler. “I did a good job of being patient and not trying to force it too much. I feel like I was right on the edge of having a good day kind of all day is how I would describe it. So I felt like, patience-wise, I did a pretty good job."
Shane Lowry, who entered the tournament in 62nd on the FedEx Cup rankings and needing to break into the top-50 on those standings to progress to St Louis next week, was moving along nicely to begin with. He had turned in 33 until suffering a double-bogey five on the par-three 11th hole, where he flew the green with his tee shot into the water.
Lowry then suffered a bogey on the 14th before recovering with back-to-back birdies on the 15th and 16th to sign for a one-under 69.
The big surprise was perhaps the showing of Spieth, who hasn’t managed a top-10 in 21 tournaments so far this season on the PGA Tour and who entered the tournament ranked 54th in the FedEx Cup standings.
“I just tried to come into this week and just be as patient, non-reactive as possible, dumb it down to try to win the golf tournament and not worry about anything else,” he said. “Just knowing that I’m a lot better golfer than I’ve been in a very long time and continue to believe in that. If low scores come, they come. If they don’t, it doesn’t change the fact that I know I’m better than I’ve been in a long time."
Spieth added: “That mentality is what I came into today [with] and [I] stuck with it throughout the round, and it paid off.”
On the LPGA Tour, Lauren Walsh put together a brilliant opening round of six-under-par 66 to lie one shot adrift of American Mariel Galdiano, who claimed the early clubhouse lead in the Portland Classic in Oregon.
The Kildare woman – in her rookie season on the LPGA Tour – had missed the cut in her last four events but made a mockery of that form line with a superb round of seven birdies, highlighted by a hat-trick from the 11th. She suffered her lone bogey on the closing hole.
In the Swiss Women’s Open on the Ladies European Tour, Dubliner Anna Foster opened strongly with a four-under-par 64 to be in tied-ninth, three shots behind Sweden’s Kajsa Arwefjall.
Spain’s Joel Moscatel and England’s Will Enefer shared the first-round lead in the Irish Challenge at Killeen Castle on the HotelPlanner Tour after shooting rounds of eight-under 64. Mark Power, who opened with a 68, was the leading Irish player in tied-16th place.
