FedEx St Jude Championship Round 1 Leaderboard

Akshay Bhatia raced into the outright lead on day one of the FedEx St Jude Championship courtesy of a brilliant 8-under 62 at TPC Southwind. 

Bhatia, 23, has not had a top 10 on the PGA Tour since The Players Championship back in March.

But the left-handed American put some lacklustre form to one side in the opening round of the first FedEx Cup Playoffs event in Memphis. 

Bhatia closed his round out with eagle and two birdies on the last three holes to shoot a stunning 8-under 62.

It sees him open up a one-shot lead over England's Tommy Fleetwood, who birdied the last four holes for a brilliant 63. 

Bhatia started the tournament 45th in the FedEx Cup standings.

As it stands, should he go on to win a third PGA Tour title this week, then he would vault all the way up to fourth. 

Bhatia admitted TPC Southwind is a good fit for him since he's one of the better ball strikers on the PGA Tour.

"I think it's a ball striker's golf course. I think statistically guys who have won here in the past, it's about ball striking off the tee. I think that's something that is suited to my game.

"I think, too, some of these holes suit my eye. There's maybe one or two holes that don't. But I feel like I can just kind of play my game and there's not too many uncomfortable shots out there for me."

Speaking of the best ball strikers in the game, there are few stronger than Fleetwood, who had his ball on a piece of string just about all round,.

Fleetwood missed just one fairway and three greens during a brilliant round of 7-under 63.

The highlight shot of his round came with a birdie from the bunker on the par-4 9th. 

He closed out his round with four straight birdies to make dinner taste real good. 

Fleetwood was agonisingly denied his best chance ever of winning a first PGA Tour title at the Travelers Championship in June.

But with form in the book and the Ryder Cup on the horizon, Fleetwood looks and sounds like a man on a mission in Memphis. 

"My game has felt in good shape throughout the practice days, and I played great in the pro-am yesterday, but that means nothing," said Fleetwood after his round of 63.

"Sometimes you prefer to play awful in the pro-am and get that out of the way.

"I like the course, and I like the setup of a lot of the tee shots, and I think if I can keep my swing in a similar place -- you're going to go through a tough stretch at some point with 72 holes ahead of us, but my game has felt in a good place, and if I can just try and keep it there and stay present and stay focused then we'll see what we can do."

America's Bud Cauley and English duo Harry Hall and Justin Rose are in a tie for third on 6-under par. 

Fleetwood is a lock on Luke Donald's European Ryder Cup team, and you would also think Rose, too. 

There is also a chance that Hall could earn a debut appearance on the team as has been his consistency on the PGA Tour of late. 

South Korea's Si Woo Kim is also off to a fast start with a 5-under 65.  

Maverick McNealy, Ben Griffin, Russell Henley, Rickie Fowler and Collin Morikawa make up the top 10 at 4-under par.

World No.1 and tournament favourite Scottie Scheffler missed a four footer for par on the 18th for his only bogey in a round of 3-under 67.