{"id":50637,"date":"2026-08-15T02:35:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-15T02:35:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/50637\/"},"modified":"2026-08-15T02:35:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-15T02:35:10","slug":"scottie-scheffler-shoots-61-to-take-3-shot-lead-in-memphis-in-playoff-opener-7","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/50637\/","title":{"rendered":"Scottie Scheffler shoots 61 to take 3-shot lead in Memphis in playoff opener"},"content":{"rendered":"

MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 Scottie Scheffler<\/a> birdied the first five holes and shot a 9-under 61 on Friday to take a three-stroke lead in the FedEx St. Jude Championship.<\/p>\n

\u201cReally just a dream start,\u201d Scheffler said. \u201cProbably one of the best starts I\u2019ve had on tour, to be honest with you. I couldn\u2019t tell you a time where I\u2019ve been lower early in the round.\u201d<\/p>\n

The top-ranked Scheffler had 11 birdies and two bogeys in 100-degree heat at TPC Southwind in the playoff opener. He had an 11-under 129 total.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe tournament is halfway over,\u201d Scheffler said. \u201cI had two good rounds to start and hopefully continue that over the weekend.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scheffler tied the tournament course record.<\/p>\n

\u201cI wouldn\u2019t say golf\u2019s ever easy,\u201d Scheffler. \u201cI did some good things out there. I hit some iron shots in there close and was able to hole a few putts as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

He has played the TPC Southwind more times (seven) without winning than any other course on the PGA<\/a> Tour.<\/p>\n

Viktor Hovland<\/a> and Sungjae Im<\/a> were tied for second at 8 under. Hovland had a 64, and Im shot his second 66.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really nice, really solid,\u201d Hovland said. \u201cHit a lot of fairways, and I think that\u2019s a big deal for my game, but also especially at this golf course. I think it\u2019s really difficult to score if you\u2019re missing fairways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ludvig Aberg<\/a> was 7 under after a 65.<\/p>\n

Jordan Spieth<\/a> shot 69 to get to 6 under. He was part of a four-way tie for the first-round lead. Spieth is outside the top 50 in the FedEx Cup who advance to the BMW Championship next week.<\/p>\n

Scheffler entered the week with a 794-point lead over Matt Fitzpatrick<\/a> in the FedExCup standings. Fitzpatrick was 3 under after a 67.<\/p>\n

So much emphasis is on getting into the top 50 because that locks up all the $20 million signature events for next season. <\/p>\n

Rory McIlroy<\/a> played alongside Scheffler the first two days. He followed an opening 74 with a 70, leaving him tied for 60th at 4 over.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

See AP\u2019s full golf coverage here<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) \u2014 Scottie Scheffler birdied the first five holes and shot a 9-under 61 on Friday…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":50638,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[10],"tags":[1443,4253,355,1388,1399,19376,14221,144,399,208,1556,2035],"class_list":["post-50637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-bmw-championship","tag-bmw-championship","tag-event_recap","tag-jordan-spieth","tag-ludvig-aberg","tag-matt-fitzpatrick","tag-pga-bmw-championship-08-20-2026","tag-pga-fedex-st-jude-championship-08-13-2026","tag-pga-tour","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-scottie-scheffler","tag-sungjae-im","tag-viktor-hovland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50637","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=50637"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/50637\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/50638"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=50637"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=50637"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=50637"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}