“`html
Tommy Fleetwood’s most recent victory was at Dubai last year.
St Jude Championship – First Round Leaderboard
-8 A Bhatia (US); -7 T Fleetwood (Eng); -6 H Hall, J Rose (Eng), B Cauley (USA); -5 S Kim (Kor)
Selected others
-4 R Fowler, C Morikawa (USA); -3 W Clark, S Scheffler (USA), M Fitzpatrick (Eng)
Tommy Fleetwood carded four consecutive birdies on his final four holes at the St Jude Championship, the opening round of the FedExCup play-offs, positioning himself just one stroke behind the leader after day one.
Fleetwood, the 34-year-old Englishman, was two under par at the halfway point but found exceptional form on the inward stretch, culminating in a seven-under 63, trailing only Akshay Bhatia in Memphis.
Fellow Englishmen Harry Hall and Justin Rose are part of a group a further shot back in joint-third, alongside Bud Cauley of the USA.
Bhatia, representing the United States, entered the tournament ranked 45th in the FedExCup standings, with a top-50 finish guaranteeing qualification for next season’s signature events.
Following the Memphis event, the top 50 players will progress to the BMW Championship in Maryland from August 14-17.
The season-culminating Tour Championship, featuring the top 30 players, is scheduled to take place in Atlanta the subsequent week.
Bhatia commented: “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.”
Bhatia’s sentiments echo those expressed by world number one Scottie Scheffler prior to his Open Championship victory last month.
Scheffler trails the lead by five strokes after a bogey on the 18th.
Rory McIlroy, a three-time FedEx Cup champion, struggled at last year’s St Jude Championship, finishing second-to-last on nine over par, and is not competing this week.
‘What’s the point?’ – Scheffler’s daily golfing wrestle
“`