The American JJ Spaun, ranked 98th in the world, took advantage of a bogey on the final hole by Austrian Sepp Straka (69th) to maintain sole control in St. Jude Championship, the first round of the FedEx Cup playoffs, at the conclusion of the third round played Saturday in Memphis.
The 31-year-old, seeking a second North American PGA Tour title after winning the Texas Open in April, surrendered the lead when his first rival made his fifth birdie of the day on the 15th hole.
Spaun, who was two shots behind, responded well by birdieing the next two holes to get even and then making par on the last one, unlike Straka, who ultimately fell short.
The American, who shot 68 (-2), is now at -13, still one shot better than the Austrian, who finished second the day before.
But the threat is growing from behind, as the winner of the last British Open, Australian Cameron Smith, is two strokes away, along with Americans Trey Mullinax and Will Zalatoris.
Rahm still isn’t leaving
Jon Rahm traced the card with 67 hits on the first day, but he needed more after a 69 on the second day. With this result, the Basque accumulated 203 hits, a -7 that he had to give to stay in the top-30 of the classification, moving up from 33rd, although it did not push him towards the final fight for the trophy in Memphis. Rahm made four birdies, on the 4th, 5th, 13th and 18th holes, but bogeyed the par 4 17th, just as he did on Friday.
The St. Jude Championship is the first round of the FedEx Cup playoffs, which will feature the top 125 players from the PGA Tour regular season. Only the top 70 players will advance to the next round, next week’s BMW Championship in Wilmington, Delaware, where the top 30 players will earn a spot in the final Tour Championship in Atlanta. The winner of this final round will pocket a check for $18 million.
Classification
third day
197 JJ Spaun (USA) (62-67-68)
198 Sepp Straka (AUT) (64-66-68)
199 Trey Mullinax (USA) (66-67-66)
Cameron Smith (AUS) (67-65-67)
Will Zalatoris (USA) (71-63-65)
200 Tyler Duncan (USA) (70-63-67)
Troy Merritt (USA) (65-65-70)
201 Hayden Buckley (USA) (69-67-65)
Sam Burns (USA) (65-69-67)
Wyndham Clark (USA) (67-67-67)
Tony Finau (USA) (64-68-69)
Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG) (68-66-67)
Brian Harman (USA) (66-66-69)
Sung-Jae Im (COR) (70-68-63)
Ryan Palmer (USA) (65-67-69)
Andrew Putnam (USA) (66-68-67)
……
203 Jon Rahm (ESP) (67-69-67)
Source: La Verdad
I’m Wayne Wickman, a professional journalist and author for Today Times Live. My specialty is covering global news and current events, offering readers a unique perspective on the world’s most pressing issues. I’m passionate about storytelling and helping people stay informed on the goings-on of our planet.
