Scheffler equals course record with 61 to lead St Jude Championship

Scottie Scheffler equalled the course record with a nine-under-par 61 to open a three-stroke lead after the second round of the St Jude Championship at TPC Southwind in Memphis, the first of three FedEx Cup play-off events. The world number one had already been topping the FedEx Cup standings heading into the play-offs.

Scheffler became only the third player to card a 61 in this tournament, following Jay Delsing in 1993 and Bob Estes in 2001, and it was his fourth career round of 61 or better on the PGA Tour. He birdied the first five holes and recorded a further six birdies, with bogeys on the eighth and 12th holes the only blemishes on his card, leaving him at 11 under overall.

"Really just a dream start. Probably one of the best starts I've had on tour, to be honest with you. I couldn't tell you a time where I've been lower early in the round," said Scheffler. "My swing has felt really good in the past couple weeks, especially playing at home. It was nice to get out there and get things rolling early in the round and was able to keep the momentum going and shoot myself a nice round."

South Korea's Im Sung-jae and Norway's Viktor Hovland were tied for second at eight under, with Sweden's Ludvig Aberg a shot further back on seven under. Colombian Nico Echavarria, England's Tommy Fleetwood, US's Jordan Spieth and US's Brian Harman were grouped at six under.

Reigning FedEx Cup champion Tommy Fleetwood was the highest placed British player in that six-under quartet. Matt Fitzpatrick was at three under and fellow Englishman Aaron Rai, who collected his first major at the US PGA Championship in May, was at two under.

Selected others on the leaderboard included J Thomas (US) at three under and E H Hall (Eng) at two under; S Lowry (Ire) was at one over, J Rose (Eng) at three over, R McIlroy (NI) and J Smith (Eng) at four over, and A Fitzpatrick (Eng) at five over.

Scotland's Robert MacIntyre withdrew prior to the start of play on Friday with a knee injury after posting a 12-over 82 in the first round on Thursday and sat 31st on the FedEx Cup points list; the top 50 will head into next week's BMW Championship.