Jordan Spieth leads FedEx St. Jude Championship after 1st round

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (WMC) - Mother Nature delayed the start of round 1 of the FedEx St. Jude Championship, but she couldn’t rain on the parade the entire day, and she definitely couldn’t rain on Jordan Spieth’s parade.

The 2015 FedEx Cup champion and three-time major winner is all alone atop the leaderboard after day one at -7, thanks in part to the shot of the day: A gorgeous eagle on 16.

“As it was kind of moving in, it was cool,” said Spieth of the eagle. “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 can very much have, and it’s not a great spot, so let me just go ahead and see.

“I mean, you hit the exact shot to the exact pin and then you find it. It’s a really cool feeling, it was a neat shot.”

Nipping at Spieth’s heels is South Korea’s Tom Kim, the only man at -6.

“Played really solid for the first 13, 14 holes,” Kim said. “Kind of had a hiccup coming in, but I played pretty good today. Definitely played pretty stress-free for most of the day.”

Two of the three favorites this weekend, Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, each put together solid days, both finishing at -3.

“I mean it’s frustrating, obviously, when you see everybody is making birdies and you’re two over through four or five holes,” said Scheffler about his start. “So, that was frustrating, but hung in there nicely and played some really good golf after that.”

“I don’t know if I can remember a round where I’ve driven it that well, at least in recent memory,” McIlroy said. “I drove it really well today and gave myself so many looks from the fairway.

“So, sort of walking off the course disappointed with three under. I felt on another day where I might’ve been on song a little more, especially with the putter, it could’ve been a 63 or 64.”

Sheffler and McIlroy are second and third in FedEx Cup points. The point leader Jon Rahm had a disastrous Thursday, shooting +3. There’s no cut this weekend, but he’s got a massive hole to climb out of to get back into contention.

Round Two gets underway at 10:15 on Friday morning.

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