Christopher Hanewinckel-USA TODAY Sports
Jordan Spieth holds the first round lead at the FedEx St. Jude Championship—the first tournament of the Fedex Cup Playoffs.
Jordan Spieth looked unstoppable Thursday, carding a bogey-free 7-under 63 to soar to the top of the leaderboard at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
He made five birdies and an eagle, with his three at the par-5 16th being the highlight of the day.
Measuring 532 yards and playing as the easiest hole on the course, Spieth pushed his second shot at the 16th to the right of the green.
His ball nestled in a collection area below the putting surface, so failing to get up and down was not out of the question.
Spieth had little room for error, but the short-game wizard made it look easy. He perfectly executed the bump-and-run, rolling it into the hole for an eagle three.
Funny enough, he practiced that same shot earlier in the week.
“I hit that shot three or four times to that pin on Tuesday, and obviously different conditions—it was wetter now—but with how steep it was and how grainy it was where it was going to land, it didn’t play much different,” Spieth revealed after his round.
“It’s cool when you sit there, and you’re like, I know this is a shot I don’t want to have, but I could very much have, and it’s not a great spot, so let me just go ahead and see—you hit the exact shot to the exact pin and then [it goes in]. It was a neat shot.”
Photo by Andy Lyons/Getty Images
MEMPHIS, Tenn. — Jordan Spieth plays his shot from the seventh tee during the first round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind on August 10, 2023.
Spieth started off his round on a high note, making three birdies over the first five holes.
He made two more on the backside.
After making an eagle at the 16th, Spieth duck-hooked his tee shot on 17 so far left that it almost went out-of-bounds. He struggled with his driver at times Thursday.
“I used the heel of the driver a lot today, and I don’t want to keep doing it,” Spieth said.
“If I feel really confident stepping into a driver, getting in front of some shots, and hitting some nice ones, that normally feeds to the rest of the bag, so I’d like to improve a bit on just where [I hit it off the face.] I hit some fairways, but I hit some pretty far off the heel, and then I toe’d one at 17.”
Alas, Spieth channeled the late Seve Ballesteros on the 17th. He managed to save par, holing a nine-footer to stay bogey-free for the day.
He heads into Friday’s round holding a one-stroke lead over Tom Kim.
Emiliano Grillo and Collin Morikawa sit two back at 5-under for the championship.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko for more golf coverage. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough too.
