MEMPHIS, Tenn. -- In hot, sweaty Memphis, an early start can mean a little relief from the soaring temperatures and every bit of help is welcome at the FedEx St. Jude Championship.
On Friday, Sudarshan Yellamaraju teed off in the third group of the day and took advantage of the conditions to record a five-under 65, equaling the low round of the tournament to that point.
“In a way, it was almost the worst score I could have shot,” said the 25-year-old Canadian. “I hit it so good and it was pretty fun to hit a lot of good shots out there.”
When he finished, Yellamaraju was tied for third place. For the day, he hit 10 of 14 fairways and didn’t miss the other four by much. He was able to find the green on 16 of his 18 attempts. Nine of those saw the ball land inside 15 feet.
“I feel like I was in control of my long game for the most part,” he stated. “I gave myself a lot of chances. Made some and probably missed quite a few more that I would have wanted to. I’m still happy with a good round.”
Yellamaraju missed a good birdie opportunity in his second hole of the day, slipping a four-foot putt past the cup on the second hole. He made up for that by draining an eagle putt on the next hole. He closed out the front nine with birdies on the fifth and seventh for a four-under 31.
On the second nine, he drained a 41-foot putt on the par-3 11th and then made a six-footer on the 15th. His lone bogey of the day came on the 17th after he three-putted from 43 feet.
The round equaled his best score in his previous five events, the most recent 65 coming last month at the Scottish Open. In that stretch, he missed the cut four times and indicated that the long season led to some fatigue. But he was always optimistic that he would return to form before the year’s end.
“I feel like the stretches where I didn’t play that well, I had a lot of good rounds where I just really didn’t get the result that I deserved,” he stated. “Today, I feel like I most definitely deserved that score. I feel it should have been better but it feels good. I know I have two more rounds to keep it going.”
Heading into this first leg of the PGA Tour playoffs, Yellamaraju was the top Canadian, sitting in 57th spot on the FedEx Cup standings. He needs to end this week inside the top 50 in order to advance to the second leg, the BMW Championship next week in St. Louis. Projections after his round on Friday had him finishing in 45th place, but he wasn’t paying too much attention to that after just 36 holes.
“I know what I need to do,” he said. “I can’t control what others do. I think I’m just going to go out and play the best golf that I can. I just want to play well and if that means it gets me into next week then that’s good and if not, then we’ll just move on to the next event.”
The other two Canadians in the field will need strong weekend performances in order to move on. Corey Conners shot a second consecutive round of 71 and was well back of the pack on the FedEx Cup standings. He was projected to drop one spot from 59 to 60. Nick Taylor used a strong back nine to finish with a round of 68. He was looking at staying in 63rd position.
The two veterans are also hoping to use the weekend to impress Presidents Cup International team captain Geoff Ogilvy. Conners is likely a solid member of that squad, sitting in sixth spot. Taylor is in 13th and will need a good finish this week. The top six in the standings as of August 31st earn automatic spots on the team while the next six will be selected by the captain shortly after that. The competition will be held Sept. 22-27 at Medinah Golf Club near Chicago.
