MEMPHIS — Matti Schmid christened the new third hole at the renovated TPC Southwind Thursday morning by destroying it. Which thereby made him the lone competitor at the FedEx St. Jude Championship to play the 559-yard par-5 as originally set up for the first round of the opening FedEx Cup playoff event.
Mind you, Schmid didn’t do it on purpose, or demolish the entire hole. But he did damage the turf where the pin was cut when he nearly dunked his 207-yard second shot for an albatross. His ball landed on the front edge of the hole, making a deep gouge, and then bounded five feet to the left, from where he converted his eagle putt.
Though the grounds crew came out and repaired the hole—cut 12 feet from the front edge and three feet from the left—sufficiently for Schmid’s putt, officials co