The WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational has a big-name leader, a big-boy board, and some big-time humor when Bryson DeChambeau potentially tried to get a hang of a “dangerous situation” (more on that below). Last year’s champion is this year’s leader as Brooks Koepka shot 62 on Thursday to lead Rickie Fowler and Brendon Todd for two and Sung Kang for three. This is not a first-round result that someone necessarily saw coming, but Koepka was by far the most impressive in this small field of 78 players on Thursday in Round 1.
Let’s jump into your round and who’s chasing as we head to Round 2 on Friday.
1. Brooks Koepka (-8) – Koepka came out of a sizzling MC-T62-MC stretch that featured some of the worst golf courses he has ever played on a pretty terrible 12 month stretch of golf (by his standards). So, of course, he dropped a filthy 62 in Round 1 to take a healthy advantage over a host of stars. I will say this about Koepka: When you feel it and the body is right, nobody makes it seem simpler. There are others that make it seem easier, but no one makes it seem simpler. Every shot and every putt he hits screams “yes, that’s what the ball is supposed to do.” He is apparently sniffing out the PGA Championship next week, where he seeks to become the first player to win three in a row in nearly 100 years, because he was sustainably scored Thursday (from tee to green). If you look a little bit closer to their numbers from last week at the 3M Open, it actually hit the ball well, it just didn’t hit at all. That changed Thursday at TPC Southwind, and he is now your leader.
S2 Brendon Todd, Rickie Fowler (-6) and 4. Sung Kang (-5) – Fowler’s fabulous round, which hasn’t had many of them so far in 2020. The swing looked great on Thursday, and he said after his round that he’s tried to focus less on his swing settings and more on just playing Golf. It worked in Round 1 when it launched its lowest round on the PGA Tour in 18 months.
S5 Matt Kuchar, Chez Reavie, Maz Homa, Justin Thomas (-4) – JT snuck under the cable quietly on Thursday with Jim “Bones” Mackay in the bag for him on this key two-week stretch. Thomas was my choice to win this week, and he did nothing to dissuade me. Thomas hit the ball beautifully and barely hit. That’s the formula for a great second-round pop of perhaps the best ball striker on the PGA Tour since the restart.
T9 Phil Mickelson, Abraham Ancer, Sergio García, Sungjae Im, Viktor Hovland, Bryson DeChambeau (-3) – Bryson was involved in my favorite Round 1 moment when he tried to get a free fall because he saw a pair of fire ants “digging” near his ball at the end of his round. He didn’t get a free fall, but he was still solid on a much smoother course than he saw at Muirfield Village a few weeks ago. Its 67 include 10 missing streets, which means that some sort of correction will likely get there and something even lower could be on deck on Friday.
T26 Dustin Johnson (-1) – Raise your hand if you saw DJ – three rounds in a row of 80-80-78 – beating Jon Rahm for one and Rory McIlroy for four after triple on his penultimate hole. Now everyone who lies can lower their hands. What’s even crazier is that DJ hit the ball beautifully and armed his round with a smoking driver. Golf is absolutely stupid and never more than when two stars, who fight for over a year, defeat the world’s number 1 player who comes from his best work.
T45 Jon Rahm (E) – Rahm was enraged for most of his first round as the world’s highest ranked player. Stick drops, stomps, looks of disbelief. It was the full Rahm experience on Thursday at TPC Southwind. He didn’t play that bad, but he’s now up to nearly double digits to a top winner four times before Friday. He’ll have to hit the ball better (at best) from the tee to the green (49th on Thursday) if he wants to be in the mix on Sunday for his second consecutive tournament.
T68 Rory McIlroy (+3) – What has harassed him the most since the PGA Tour restarted in June harassed him again in Round 1 on Thursday. McIlroy finished penultimate in blows earned on approach shots and struggled powerfully in a course he has thrived in. last. If you dig a little deeper, his proximity to the hole wasn’t too bad, but he lost most of his punches in two holes on his forehead nine. This bodes well for Friday. Just like birdie two of his last three holes.
CBS Sports was with you the entire time updating this story with the latest scores, updates and highlights below. Check out live scores at the top of this story or a more detailed leaderboard.
