Germany's Matti Schmid struck the opening tee ball to open the FedEx St. Jude Championship at 8:20 a.m. ET, but by the end of the day it was Akshay Bhatia who stole the spotlight to open the PGA Tour playoffs.

The 23-year-old fired an 8-under 62, his career-low round on Tour, to grab the solo lead in the opening leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs.

His score was just one shot shy of the course record last set by Justin Thomas in 2023. With this, Bhatiya also marked his third career 18-hole lead/co-lead, and his first of the season. His previous low was 63, recorded six times, scored recently at the 3M Open's Round 3.

"I felt like I wasn't putting great throughout the day, but then those last couple putts managed to drop," Bhatia told reporters after his round when asked about his day. "All

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