Defending champion Brooks Koepka matched his career best with an 8-under 62 to take a two-stroke lead over Rickie Fowler and Brendon Todd after the first round of the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational.
Koepka has been working hard to fix his game even with an injured left knee but he put everything together on Thursday.
A week after missing the cut in Minnesota in the 3M Open, Koepka had nine birdies and a bogey on a windy day at TPC Southwind. He credits all his work with coaches Claude Harmon and Pete Cowen rather than how comfortable he is on this course.
Louis Oosthuizen was -2, three better than Erik van Rooyen and Christiaan Bezuidenhout. Shaun Norris finished +2
‘It’s the first time I feel like I know where my misses are, I know when the club’s in the correct spot, I know when the putting stroke’s nice,’ Koepka said. ‘It’s all just the work we’ve put in over the last three weeks of countless hours of beating balls and on the putting green.’
Koepka also will defend his PGA Championship title next week at TPC Harding Park in San Francisco, and his coaches helped him realize last weekend how much he was favoring his injured left knee.
He sure found something at TPC Southwind, where he turned in his lowest round of the year and best in seven events at this course. This was his eighth time shooting under par in his last nine rounds here. He needed 26 putts after working earlier this week with Phil Kenyon.
‘It’s nice to see those results and all the changes we’ve made come through,’ Koepka said.
Fowler, who last missed the cut at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, chipped in from 30 feet to tie Koepka. Then Fowler two-putted for bogey after putting his tee shot in the left rough on his final hole to finish at 64.
‘I was able to get a lot of good work with the putter last week and get myself back into some better positions to free up the putter,’ Fowler said. ‘I was pulling a lot of putts, I was kind of tense with it, so it’s nice to see things kind of pay off.’
Sung Kang shot 65. Justin Thomas, who can move back to No. 1 in the world with a victory, shot a 66 and was tied with Matt Kuchar, Chez Reavie and Max Homa.
Jon Rahm, playing his first event since becoming No. 1 with a win at Memorial, shot 70. He said he didn’t play like a No. 1 player, especially on a day where players could lift, clean and place on perfect greens. Rahm said Koepka and Fowler made it look easy.
‘I just didn’t have a swing today,’ Rahm said. ‘I felt terrible, I could not figure out where the ball was going to go, and I was just trying to minimize mistakes.’
Rory McIlroy also could move back to No. 1 with a win. He opened with a 73.
Koepka, teeing off in the next-to-last group, made clear his injured left knee won’t slow down his title defense. He birdied his first four holes to shoot up the leaderboard and went to 4 under to share the lead with Bryson DeChambeau after rolling in a 23-footer for birdie on the par-3 No. 4.
Koepka bogeyed No. 7. when he missed a 10-footer. He hit his tee shot on the par-3 No. 8 within 7 feet and made the birdie putt. He used his putter again for a second straight birdie, rolling in an 18-footer on No. 9 to make the turn with the best front nine of the day with a 30 that tied him for the lead at 5 under.
The defending champ just kept making birdies. He added two of his first four on the back nine, the second sinking a 7-footer on No. 13. He tapped in for birdie after just missing an eagle on the par-5 No. 16.
Photo: Getty Images
