Dylan Frittelli started fast on Thursday in the opening round of the PGA Tour’s first play-off series event, the FedEx St Jude Championship in Memphis, Tennessee as he carded an opening four-under-par 66.
Starting his round on the 10th hole, he immediately made consecutive birdies on the first two holes, and then picked up two more shots on the 14th and 16th. He dropped a shot, however, on the 17th ahead of the turn. There were two more birdies on three and eight, before he made bogey on his closing hole, the ninth.
His four-under start put him in a share of 18th place, four shots behind the lead which was shared by Si Woo Kim of South Korea and JJ Spaun of the United States. They led by one from rookie American Sahith Theegala, with four players, including the very much in-form Tony Finau in a share of fourth on six-under.
Frittelli’s round was driven by good putting, and he will feel he can push for a good finish to his season if he can improve his accuracy off the tee and his greens in regulation. He is projected to finish in 90th place currently on the FedEx Cup standings, which won’t be enough to get him into the second leg of the play-offs. Next week’s BMW Championship’s field is limited to the top 70 on the list.
The other South African in the field, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, carded an opening one-under 69 with four birdies and three bogeys. That put him in a share of 60th. He is projected to drop to 57th on the FedEx Cup rankings, enough to play next week. He does, however, need to make sure he is around for the weekend in Memphis.
