The world of golf continues with the season following the end of the PGA Tour, with the top 70 golfers from the FedEx standings entering the FedEx Cup Playoffs at the St Jude Championship. This competition showcases the best talent from the tour. With Bhatia dominating, it looked like he might run away with it had it not been for a flurry of brilliant play from Tommy Fleetwood, who hit four birdies in as many holes to finish off the first round and finish just one shot off the lead.
The Englishman wasn’t playing his best golf at the turn in the Memphis sun, but managed to turn things around and end the first day on 7 under and sitting in second place for the event so far. Out in front, Bhatia leads the charge with 8 under, whilst Fleetwood’s fellow Englishmen Harry Hall and Justine Rose are close on his tail, both at 6 under.
Bhatia played some great golf in this first round and seems to be defying his 45th-place standing, whilst Fleetwood came into the St Jude Championship sitting at 9th in the FedEx Cup standings behind the likes of Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler, who topped the bill.
As with any golfing event, it can be hard to predict who is going to have a good championship and who is going to come up short. The tour moves so quickly, and with each course designed so differently and suited to different players’ games, it can be anyone’s game at times. For those looking to wager a little punt on the tournament, making good predictions may take some sound knowledge and a slice of luck. Otherwise, bettors could indulge in non-Gamstop UK betting sites so they can have continuous bets placed on the tournament without any restrictions on their gambling activity. This may give gamblers a much better chance at walking away from the tournament with some money in their pocket, and with the dynamic changing of golf standings, along with the continuously shifting odds created by the bookies, this is perhaps the best option for many prospective punters.
The top 50 from this tournament will go on to play at the BMW Championship in Maryland next week, before the season ends with the Tour Championship in Atlanta the week after, with the best 30 from the BMW Championship. This playoff style essentially means that players need to be consistently good and continue to make the cuts as the tournament goes on.
Bhatia has admitted that his turn in form is mostly down to his mindset, and perhaps Tommy Fleetwood would say the same. Bhatia mentioned in a post-game conference that he is just looking to play at peace on the course and not let the game consume him, which happens all too often on golf courses for players.
These words come off the back of a similar mindset documented by Scottie Scheffler before his win at the Open last month. Scheffler sits comfortably at Number 1 in the world and has asserted himself as one of the best golfers of his generation, but remains 5 shots away from Bhatia in the lead at this tournament.
Whilst Fleetwood, Bhatia, and Scheffler are all likely to battle it out in the next couple of days, there is a notable absentee from the course in Memphis. Rory McIlroy, the Masters Champion, is not playing this week after voluntarily sitting out the tournament. An official reason for his being missing has not been given; however, recent rule changes have meant that players can now skip FedEx playoff events without denting any championship progress, and the PGA announced that starting strokes would no longer be awarded. It may be that Rory is just taking some downtime following his tied 7th place result at the Open and before he gets back into the Irish Open later in the year.
Perhaps McIlroy is basking in his glorious cameo performance in the newly released Happy Gilmore 2. The film sees a tremendous amount of golfing cameos and, despite entertaining fans with Gilmore’s redemption arc, also seems to become political in its criticism of the current golfing rift between the PGA and LIV. Whilst pro golf was shaken when LIV announced its entrance into the pro golf scene and poached players from the PGA Tour, the two have started to find a new norm that is very much a coexisting relationship.
For now, Tommy Fleetwood will very much be looking to continue his fine form in the St Jude Championship with his eyes on first place now following his sensational end to the first round. He is projected to come second overall, with many projecting Scheffler to make a comeback. But all remains to play for over the next few days.
