Max Homa, James Hahn, Collin Morikawa Close to Lead at St. Jude Golf

All three former Cal golfers within several strokes of the lead after one round in the opening event of FedEx Cup playoff

Three former Cal golfers -- James Hahn, Max Homa and Collin Morikawa -- had strong opening rounds Thursday, putting all three in contention at the FedEx St. Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tenn., the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

Co-leaders after one round are Si Woo Kim and J.J. Spaun, who fired 8-under rounds of 62. Kim finished the back nine at 7-under-par 28, the lowest back nine ever recorded at TPC Southwind.

But the three Cal alums are within reach of the leaders.

Morikawa, No. 8 in the Official World Golf Rankings, is the highest ranked of the three ex-Golden Bears, but he had the highest score of the three on Thursday, posting a 3-under-par 67, which puts him in a tie for 31st, but just five strokes off the lead.

Homa, who is ranked 22nd, had a double bogey that took some of the luster on his shiny opening round, but he still recorded a first-round score of 4-under-par 66, leaving him four strokes behind the leaders.

But the best round of the three was provided by Hahn, who is ranked 251st in the world but carded a 5-under-par 65, leaving him tied for eighth just three strokes off the lead.

As mentioned, this is the first of three playoff tournaments to determine the 2022 winner of the FedEx Cup. The winner of the St. Jude event takes home $2.7 million, but the winner of the FedEx Cup will earn $18 million. 

Here is how ESPN explains the playoff to win the FedEx Cup

The top 125 players in the FedEx Cup points standings qualified for the first playoff event, this week's FedEx St. Jude Championship. The field will be trimmed to the top 65 and ties after 36 holes. The top 70 on the points list after the final round at TPC Southwind will advance to the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, which will be played next week at the BMW Championship at Wilmington Country Club in Delaware.

The player who wins the FedEx St. Jude Championship will earn 2,000 points, which provides an opportunity for players far back in the standings to advance.

The BMW Championship is a no-cut event, and the top 30 in the points standings after that tournament will advance to the no-cut Tour Championship, which is scheduled for Aug. 25-28 at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta.

For the fourth straight season, the Tour Championship will utilize a staggered, strokes-based scoring system. The player who is atop the points standings will begin the Tour Championship at 10 under, before he even hits a tee shot. The player who is in second starts at 8 under, third at 7 under, fourth at 6 under and fifth at 5 under, etc.

Although Morikawa is above Homa in the World Golf Rankings, Homa is higher in the FedEx Cup standings.  Homa entered the week 13th in the FedEx Cup standings, while Morikawa ranked 23rd. 

Hahn needs to have a strong tournament this weekend to make it to the second tournament in the playoff because he entered the week ranked 117th in the FedEx Cup standings, barely making the 125-player field.

Hahn began his comeback with a strong bogey-free first round Thursday. 

He started his round on the 10th hole, and birdied the 12th and 15th holes to get to 2-under after nine holes. He then birdied the first, third and sixth holes to get to 5-under.

Hahn has two career PGA Tour victories, but has not captured a title in six years. He has twice finished tied for ninth this season, but has not finished in the top 25 in any of his past eight tournaments. He is a streaky golfer who can compete with the best when he is hot, and his first round suggest he might be on one of those runs.

He will need to stay hot this weekend to be among the top 70 in the FedEx Cup standings and qualify for next week's event.

Homa also started his round on the 10th hole, and had birdies on Nos. 14, 15 and 16 to get to 3-under par. But he recorded a double bogey on No. 18 to slip back to 1-under at the turn.

He then birdied Nos. 3, 5 and 8 to finish at 4-under. 

Homa's birdie on the 16th hole (his eighth hole of the day) was particularly impressive, as seen here.

Homa's round was not without some oddities, as evidenced by this drive, which ended up at an odd location. We say, "Play it where it lies."

Morikawa's first-round score suggests that his slump may be over.  He was ranked No. 2 in the world for much of the early part of this season, but he is barely in the top 10 now at No. 8. 

He finished tied for fifth in the U.S. Open, but he missed the cut in his two tournaments (Scottish Open and British Open) since then, and missed the cut in the tournament immediately preceding the U.S. Open.

Morikawa was inconsistent again on Thursday, recording four bogeys, including one on his final hole of the day.  However, he countered that with seven birdies to leave him very much in the picture.

This week's tournament is not just about golf, as the two former Cal golfers demonstrated.

Morikawa and Homa both spent time with children at St. Jude's this week, as you can see here:

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Cover photo of James Hahn by Neil Redmond, USA TODAY Sports

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Jake Curtis
JAKE CURTIS

Jake Curtis worked in the San Francisco Chronicle sports department for 27 years, covering virtually every sport, including numerous Final Fours, several college football national championship games, an NBA Finals, world championship boxing matches and a World Cup. He was a Cal beat writer for many of those years, and won awards for his feature stories.