Jordan Spieth grabs share of FedEx St. Jude lead as Rory McIlroy unravels

Spieth fired a seven-under-par 65 to share the lead with four others after the opening round of the first event of the PGA Tour's season-ending FedEx Cup playoffs.

The three-time major champion was joined at the top of the leaderboard by fellow Americans Jake Knapp, Kurt Kitayama, Michael Thorbjornsen and Michael Kim after 18 holes at a sweltering TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.

Spieth, who has not won on the PGA Tour since the 2022 RBC Heritage, carded seven birdies without dropping a shot as he made an ideal start to the three-event playoff series.

A stroke further back on six under was a group featuring major champions Adam Scott, Gary Woodland and Hideki Matsuyama, along with defending FedEx Cup champion Tommy Fleetwood.

"Heat is the biggest challenge," Scott said. "Just pacing yourself. I don't think you can drink enough.

"You sweat a lot out there. The thing that comes with that is the mental errors. But overall, I played a pretty good round."

Spieth produced a blistering stretch of five birdies in seven holes, beginning with a 12-foot putt at the ninth.

He then drained a 40-footer at the par-three 11th before converting from 24 feet at the 13th, with a 17-foot birdie putt at the 15th completing his run.

"I just tried to come into this week and be as patient, nonreactive, as possible, dumb it down to try to win," Spieth said. "Just knowing I'm a lot better golfer than I've been in a very long time and continue to believe in that."

Co-leader Thorbjornsen battled illness and the sweltering heat but produced a strong finish, making an eagle from eight feet at the 16th before adding birdies at two of his final four holes.

He saved his best for last, closing his round with a spectacular 40-foot chip-in to complete a seven-under 65 and join the five-way tie for the lead.

"It was a little tough dealing with the heat and there's still a sickness, kind of hacking up on every hole, but I was very solid tee to green," he said.

Second-ranked Rory McIlroy, lies next to last on the leaderboard after a disappointing opening 74 that included bogeys at 16 and 17 and a double bogey at 18, where he hit his tee shot into the water.

World No 1 Scottie Scheffler fired an opening 68 to stay in the hunt.

"I didn't feel like I hit a ton of fairways. I was in the first cut a lot," Scheffler said. "I did a good job of being patient and not trying to force it too much.

"I was right on the edge of having a good day kind of all day."