Fleetwood trails Bhatia by one stroke after opening round at St Jude Championship

First-round leaderboard

• -8: Akshay Bhatia (USA)
• -7: Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)
• -6: Harry Hall (ENG), Justin Rose (ENG), Bud Cauley (USA)
• -5: Si Woo Kim (KOR)
• -4: Rickie Fowler (USA), Collin Morikawa (USA)
• -3: Wyndham Clark (USA), Scottie Scheffler (USA), Matt Fitzpatrick (ENG)

Tommy Fleetwood closed his opening round at the St Jude Championship with four consecutive birdies to post a seven-under-par 63, ending just one stroke behind Akshay Bhatia in Memphis.

Fleetwood, 34, improved on a two-under front nine and surged up the leaderboard, while Bhatia, who began the week 45th in the FedExCup standings, leads on eight under. The top 50 after Memphis move on to the BMW Championship in Maryland (14-17 August), with the Tour Championship set in Atlanta the following week.

Bhatia said: "I'm just really trying to have a little more peace on the golf course. I think this game can consume your life, your happiness, and so I'm just trying to figure out ways to change that because I feel like I don't really want to live my life based off of an unstable game."

His comments echo those of world number one Scottie Scheffler, who lies five shots adrift after a late bogey. Three-time FedExCup winner Rory McIlroy, who struggled here last year, is not playing this week.

Fleetwood's strong finish and Bhatia's composure highlight the competitive edge emerging as the FedExCup play-offs begin.

This topic was reported by BBC Sport.

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