MEMPHIS: Akshay Bhatia fired an 8-under-par 62 in Thursday’s first round of the FedEx St. Jude Championship to grab a one-stroke lead over England’s Tommy Fleetwood in the opening event of the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup playoffs.
Fleetwood made a late charge up the leaderboard by birdieing the final four holes for his 7-under 63 at TPC Southwind.
Two strokes behind Bhatia at 6-under 64 are Bud Cauley and Englishmen Harry Hall and Justin Rose. Si Woo Kim of Korea shot 65.
Collin Morikawa, Rickie Fowler, Maverick McNealy, Russell Henley and Ben Griffin are four back after 4-under 66s. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler had a chance to join them, but his short par putt on 18 slid past the hole and he settled for a 67.
Bhatia tossed aside a season filled mostly with disappointment to move atop the leaderboard. His strong start included four birdies on the front nine and an eagle-3 on the par-5 16th hole. The only blemish on Bhatia’s scorecard was a bogey on the par-4 12th. He closed in impressive fashion, following the eagle on No. 16 with birdie putts on Nos. 17 and 18.
