The first round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship saw plenty of scoring available after overnight rains softened the course for the players on Thursday. The morning tee times took full advantage, playing the course nearly two full strokes under par, which turned out to be about a shot better than the afternoon wave.
Si Woo Kim and JJ Spaun were the two players who went off in the morning and piled up the birdies on the way to rounds of 8-under 62. Sahith Theegala tried to chase them down on Thursday afternoon, but fell one shot short. However, he will get the advantage of going right back out on Friday morning. The field bunches beyond Theegala as 17 players shot rounds of 65 or better, creating quite a group within just three shots of the lead with 54 holes to play.
As is usually the case on Thursday nights, we will look for some betting value down the board going into Round 2 as we dig into the strokes gained data from the opening round at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.