Collin Morikawa In the Hunt After 1st Round of St. Jude Golf

The Cal grad is four strokes off the lead as the three-week FedEx Cup playoffs begin

Collin Morikawa hits his tee shot. / Chris Day/The Commercial Appeal / USA TODAY NETWORK

A double-bogey on the 17th hole marred an otherwise splendid opening round by Collin Morikawa at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, but the Cal grad closed Thursday at 2-under 60 and tied for 18th place.

Morikawa, who began the three-week FedEx Cup playoffs in fourth place, was at minus-4 and tied for fourth at TPC Southwind. But his double-bogey 6 on the 17th knocked him from the top of the leaderboard and into a tie for 18th alongside Rory McIlroy, Jordan Spieth and others.

Fellow Cal grad Max Homa was one stroke back at 69 and tied for 28th place after a round that included four birdies and three bogeys. Homa is among 15 players sharing 28th place.

South Korea’s Byeong Hun An, who also attended Cal, is part of that logjam a 69 after a drama-free round that included two birdies, one bogey and 15 pars.

Seventy golfers are chasing a $20 million total purse and a first-place prize of $3.6 million. The top 50 in the FedEx Cup standings after St. Jude qualify for the second weekend of the FedEx Cup playoffs, the BMW Championship at Castle Pines, Colorado.

All 50 players who reach next week also earn spots in all signature events on the 2025 PGA calendar. 

The top 30 in the standing after the BMW tournament qualify for the Tour Championship at Atlanta one week later, where golfers vie for a $25 million first prize.

American Chris Kirk made a hole-in-one on the par-3 13th hole and was at 7 under until carding a bogey on No. 18. Still, be finished with a 6-under 64 and a one-stroke lead on three others — Taylor Pendrith, Matthieu Pavon and Hideki Matsuyama. 

World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who also holds a huge lead in the FedEx Cup standings,  had four birdies over the first six holes and wound up at 4- under 66 and part of a seven-way tie for fifth.

Also in that group at 66 is Xander Schauffele, who is second in the FedEx Cup standings. Schauffele birdied the first three holes and avoided making a bogey all day.