FedEx St. Jude Championship 2023: 3 Instant Reactions to Thursday Leaderboard Scores
The FedEx St. Jude Championship is an important event on the PGA calendar, as it marks the beginning of the FedEx Cup playoffs. The top 70 golfers in the FedEx Cup standings entered the tournament at TPC Southwind needing to finish inside the top 50 to reach next week's BMW Championship.
Entering the event, Jon Rahm (3,320 points) led the FedEx Cup point standings, followed by Scottie Scheffler (3,146), Rory McIlroy (2,304), Max Homa (2,128) and Wyndham Clark (1,944). Rahm and Scheffler have a sizeable lead over the pack, but things should shift dramatically after Sunday.
The winner of the St. Jude Championship will claim a whopping 2,000 cup points.
Jordan Spieth is the tournament leader after Round 1, followed closely by Tom Kim. Here's a quick look at how things stand in the 2023 FedEx Cup St. Jude Championship and some reactions to the opening day.
Top Leaders Entering Day 2
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1. Jordan Spieth -7
2. Tom Kim -6
T-3. Emiliano Grillo -5
T-3. Collin Morikawa -5
T-5. Lucas Glover -4
T-5. Eric Cole -4
T-5. Adam Svensson -4
T-5. J.T. Poston -4
T-5. Taylor Moore -4
T-5. Tommy Fleetwood -4
T-5. Kurt Kitayama -4
T-5. Xander Schauffele -4
T-5. Cam Davis -4
T-5. Aaron Rai -4
*Full leaderboard can be found at PGATour.com
Jordan Spieth Is Making His Presence Felt
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Spieth was once considered one of the most exciting young golfers on the PGA tour, but the 30-year-old has become somewhat of a forgotten golfer. He hasn't won a major since 2017 and has only occasionally reminded fans how great he can be when his game is clicking.
While Spieth did tie for fourth at The Masters, he has also missed the cut in five tournaments since the beginning of February. He dealt with a wrist injury in May and has battled consistency issues throughout the year.
"There are mechanical issues that have caused the mistakes I've made," Spieth said, per Tim Cowlishaw of the Dallas Morning News.
On Thursday, though, Spieth reminded everyone that he's still among the world's best. He played an incredible minus-seven round that included a spectacular eagle shot on No. 16.
Spieth holds a one-stroke lead over Kim and a two-stroke lead over Emiliano Grillo and Collin Morikawa, who are tied for third place.
It was a huge day for Spieth, who can climb into contention for the FedEx Cup with a victory. He came into the weekend ranked 31st in cup points, but a victory in the tournament would potentially catapult him into the top five, depending on how the rest of the top contenders fare.
Rough Day for Rahm
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In many ways, Rahm has been the opposite of Spieth this season. The 28-year-old has been everywhere, including the headlines of just about every significant tournament.
Since the start of January, Rahm has won four tournaments, including The Masters, tied for second at the Open Championship and has two other top-three finishes. He has three additional top-15 finishes and has missed the cut only once.
Rahm didn't become the cup-points leader by accident. He's been one of the most consistent competitors in the sport in 2023, and has taken a measured approach to high-level competition.
"It's me against me, and all I can control is what I do. If I do what I know I can do at the highest level, it gives me the best chance," Rahm told CBS Mornings (h/t ESPN).
Rahm still has a chance to remain near the top of the cup standings, but he got off to a rough start on Thursday.
Though Rahm didn't have a disaster of an outing, he shot two over on the day. He had some bright moments with three birdies offsetting three bogeys and a double-bogey on No. 18 making the difference.
If the tournament were to end today, Rahm would add a mere 15.2 cup points to his total, meaning he has ground to make up if he hopes to extend his lead.
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Scheffler and McIlroy Holding Steady
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If the tournament ended today (which it obviously doesn't), Rahm would still have the edge in cup points. Both Spieth and Kim would jump into the top five, but Scheffler and McIlroy would both remain in the top five as well.
While Scheffler and McIlroy are four strokes behind Spieth, both golfers had a respectable opening round and are tied for 15th at minus-three. There's a lot of golf left to play this weekend, but it's shaping up to be a departure from last year's tournament, where both golfers missed the cut.
"I'm obviously not ecstatic with the way last year finished. I feel like last year was a year in which I should have won the FedEx Cup and I didn't," Scheffler said, per ESPN's Mark Schlabach.
With only the top 70 golfers reaching the playoffs this year—as opposed to the top 125 in previous years—Scheffler and McIlroy aren't in danger of missing the cut because there isn't one. Neither is in danger of missing a bid for the BMW Championship either.
However, a strong finish this weekend would help these golfers tremendously moving toward the TOUR Championship. Only the top 30 golfers in the points standings will make the final playoff event, which features a prorated scoring start (from 10-under to even par) based on FedEx Cup standings.
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