FedEx St. Jude Classic on PGA Tour: First round highlights
The first day at the scenic TPC Southwind Memphis turned out to be a bright sunny day with a crisp summer breeze across the course when players tee-ed of for the FedEx St. Jude Classic on the PGA Tour. David Mathis, with his stellar five-under, 65, emerged
as the clubhouse leader, overtaking many of the blazing guns of the sport.
This is Mathis’ third year on the tour after his debut in 2009. This is also for the first time that he is leading a round on PGA after equaling his career best on the tour, carding six birdies and a lone bogey. The 37-year-old North Carolina native is still
confident he will be continue to perform well for the coming rounds, hopefully winning the title on Sunday.
Mathis has been playing professional golf for the last 14 years after turning professional in 1997. He graduated from Campbell University and joined the local tours and also played on the Canadian Tour before switching over to Nationwide Tour. He made his
debut in PGA Tour in 2009 but shortly afterwards, returned to the Nationwide. He is playing 14th event on the PGA.
"Somebody asked me the other day, 'How long you been playing? Like 13 years or something like that?' I was like, 'Really?" Mathis said. "So anyway obviously the time flies, but you know it's been an enjoyable ride coming from that ... makes me appreciate
playing out here for sure."
Mathis attributed his success to his coach Patrick Kelley whose timely intervention helped him straighten his short putt and eventually birdying six holes en route.
"That just kind of jump-started my day and you know just had some confidence," Mathis said. "I was driving the ball in the fairway and hitting irons in spots I was looking to hit them and you know just added up to a 65 thankfully."
Last year’s runner-up, Robert Karlsson closed his round with four-under, trailing the leader by one shot. Karlsson has showed his fondness of the course time and again, still pitched in to grab the top slot this year. He lost the four-hole Playoff last year
when he finished in contention with Lee Westwood and Robert Garrigus. Karlsson is in contention for the second spot along with John Merrick, Kris Blanks, Kevin Kisner and Colt Knost.
Defending champion Westwood finished one-under to settle for the 20th spot with some 13 players. Keegan Bradley, the HP Byron Nelson Champion, is hoping to make it into the US Open scheduled next week. He settled for the joint seventh spot with
his three-under, 67.
FedEx confirmed its sponsorship extension for the tournament in May and vowed to support the event till 2012. St. Jude Classic was earlier sponsored by the Stanford Financial Group until 2008 when the total purse was some $6 million, with a winner’s prize
share of $1,080,000.
FedEx, which has its international headquarters just a stone’s throw from TPC SouthWind, later moved to offer the sponsorship deal for the event in 2009. The purse was reduced to $5.6 million with a winner’s share of $ 1,008,000 and has been the same since
then.
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