Tournament officials at FedEx St. Jude Championship move pin location mid-round
Tournament officials at the FedEx St. Jude Championship were forced to change a pin location during the first round.
Tournament officials at the FedEx St. Jude Championship were forced to relocate a pin in the opening round after German pro Matti Schmid's near-albatross approach tore up the green beyond satisfactory repair.
Schmid carded an ordinary 71 in the first leg of the PGA Tour's playoffs in Memphis on Thursday.
But his front nine was anything but, with the 27-year-old making the turn in 39 strokes at TPC Southwind that included making two bogeys, one eagle, one birdie, a double bogey and a triple.
Schmid almost holed out for a rare albatross on the third hole from 207 yards.
His approach landed next to the cup, making a visible gouge, and rolled out to about five feet. He had no trouble converting.
The group behind were forced to wait for a few minutes as the grounds crew attempted to repair the damage.
But according to the tour's senior vice president of rules and competitions, Gary Young, it was not repaired to a satisfactory degree for the succeeding groups.
The result was that the tournament officials were forced to cut a new hole 14 inches to the right.
Young later told GolfDigest: "The integrity of the hole had been compromised.
"The lack of … not so much root structure, but the lack of a thatch layer being built up, it was impossible to repair the hole.
"Normally we carry a tool with us that we can use to repair the hole on the spot, but when the official tried to repair it, he just couldn't do it.
"The soil just wasn't allowing us to get it back where it would be stable for the remainder of the round. So we went ahead and just cut a new hole."
Akshay Bhatia led the FedEx St. Jude Championship after 18 holes.
Tommy Fleetwood hit four birdies in the final four holes to finish one shot behind the American.
The Englishman wasn't the only Brit to have a hot start.
Justin Rose and Harry Hall, who are both chasing spots in the European Ryder Cup team, finished the day tied for third on six-under.
Bhatia came into the tournament 45th in the FedEx Cup standings.
Only the top 50 players make it through to next week's BMW Championship.
The season-ending Tour Championship will feature the top 30.
Scottie Scheffler leads the way, followed by Rory McIlroy.
McIlroy isn't playing this week, deciding to re-charge his batteries ahead of a busy period in his schedule.
His decision appears to have annoyed a few PGA Tour members.
Ben Smith joined the GolfMagic team in September 2021, initially as a content executive.
These days, he assumes the position of content manager.
