St.Jude Championship 2022 Standings: JJ Spaun, Si Woo Kim Take Early Lead As FedEx Cup Qualifier Begins

An unlikely duo will top the FedEx St. Jude Championship after Round 1 at TPC Southwind on Thursday. Si Woo Kim and JJ Spaun both hit 62 hits at the top of the wave, one shot better than Sahith Theegala. They’ll take the lead on Friday with many of the biggest stars in the field struggling to rise to the top of the leaderboard and some of the lower tier of the FedEx Cup standings taking advantage of that.

There’s a lot of movement in the FedEx Cup standings – both mid and late – as the first of three playoff events kicks off on Thursday, and that makes sense for more than just the three-week span. pay $75 million but also for the rest of this week because golfers who aren’t necessarily competing for this championship are now ready to do so.

Take a look at Kim, Spaun and the whole butt in Memphis, Tennessee.

Leaders

T1. JJ Spaun, Si Woo Kim (-8): Kim clearly has plenty of time when it comes to major tournaments, but Spaun has never finished better than 62nd in the FedEx Cup. Now, both are predicted to lead all the way to the top three with 2,000 FedEx Cup points for Sunday’s winner. While their scorecards look different – Spaun is perfectly transparent, Kim shoots 28 on nine backs – both perform at the highest level when it comes to the most important skill to win a tournament. golf game. Kim finished first in the approach shots and Spaun finished third, leading to a 62nd duel where they shot to take the lead at the event.

Other candidates

3. Sahith Theegala (-7)

T4. JT Poston, Tony Finau, KH Lee, Sepp Straka (-6)

T8. Troy Merritt, Tyrrell Hatton, Sam Burns, Lee Hodges, Rickie Fowler, Ryan Palmer, Michael Thompson, Jason Day, Lucas Glover, James Hahn (-5)

This is not exactly shouting”Super Bowl golf” as some might imagine, but there’s a guy to pin in here, and that’s a guy I think will probably win the entire FedEx Cup. Tony Finau shot 64 on Thursday. , which is – somewhat hard to believe – below his 10-round average after he won both the 3M Open and Rocket Mortgage Classic in head-to-head weeks.

He is also the favorite player to win this week and with the way he plays, he should be. What’s interesting about the Finau round is that he didn’t even unleash his biggest weapon, staying outside the top 40 in driving range and dealing mostly damage with his superior iron play. I can’t wait to see if Finau can make it through three rounds in a row this weekend. Also, his shoe game was also huge in Round 1.

Fowler pops out

Rickie Fowler shot his second round best of the year with 65 (he shot a 63 in round 3 of the CJ Cup, which he nearly won). Fowler narrowly made it to the knockout stages in last place at 125th on the FedEx Cup standings. He took that opportunity in Round 1.

“I feel like I’ve got some good stuff, and in a way to get involved, there’s nothing to lose,” Fowler said. “At 125, I need to play well to only make it to next week, but it would be a big bonus if we can do that and move on. starting, especially with not making much. ”

Fowler and longtime caddy Joe Skovron split after the Wyndham Championship last week, and while it was odd after more than a decade of partnership, Fowler said history helped even in Skovron’s absence.

“I feel great,” Fowler said. “This week even without Joe, obviously a great partnership over the years, but it’s going to be more about me taking ownership and putting more work on myself and responsibility. I still have a lot of his voice and little sayings and things in my head, so he’s not in the pocket but he’s definitely present.”

Despite a good day, Fowler still has a lot of work to do – he’s only been predicted to finish 85th in the FedEx Cup standings – but a story that feels comforting to some who have struggled. the past two years are starting to bubble up a bit.

Unintentionally mild?

Scottie Scheffler had one of the worst batting rounds of his life and shot 71 for it (he finished 120th on the field on hit). The more interesting story – on Twitter at least – is that at one point during their round, Scheffler walked straight in front of Cam Smith as Smith was about to hit the shot. Is that a signal to Smith, who was supposed to be in the LIV Golf League after the knockouts, that he is no longer welcome on the PGA Tour? I didn’t really see it that way – it seemed quite unintentional and completely harmless – although Smith’s reaction when Scheffler walked in front of him generated all sorts of comments from TV viewers. By the way, a man walking ahead of another on a circular lawn is stirring up fans in his hometown, it’s a very “sporty casual” moment.

Biggest FedEx Cup Leaders From Thursday

Patrick McDonald started this look two weeks ago at the Rocket Mortgage Classic, and now its impact is coming to East Lake, the Tour Championship, and the $500,000 guaranteed to go with it. The top 70 made it to the BMW Championship before the top 30 went on to the Tour Championship and the final round of the playoffs. This is the guy who jumped on Thursday.

2022 FedEx St. Jude Championship updated odds and selections

• Tony Finau: 7-1
• Sam Burns: 12-1
• Si Woo Kim: 12-1
• Sahith Theegala: 16-1
• Patrick Cantlay: 18-1
• Orange Smith: 20-1
• Justin Thomas: 20-1
• Jon Rahm: 22-1
• Matthew Fitzpatrick: 22-1

It’s easy to believe in Kim how well he hit the ball in the first half, and Spaun’s 25-1 scoreline was also interesting. However, it was Burns at 12-1 and Fowler at 80-1 that intrigued me the most. Fowler hit the ball pretty well on Thursday, and if he keeps putting in a little bit, I think he can stay in it until the end. Burns ranks 6th from tee to green and is consistently underrated as one of the 10-12 best players in the world. He will be a threat for the next 54 holes, and I love him 12-1.

Rick Gehman and Kyle Porter recap Thursday’s action at the FedEx St. Jude in 2022. Follow and listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.