Chris Kirk had a hole in one at the 16th on his way to a 64 in the sweltering opening round of the FedEx St Jude Championship in Memphis, a round which would have been better without a bogey on the 18th.<\/p>\n
“I hit a lot of good shots coming in and just didn’t quite — I would have loved to have gotten one on 16 and at least made a par on 18,” said the American. “That tee shot on 18 is so hard. I played with Pendy who that 315 cover on the left is no problem for him, but I don’t have that. I can fly it 300, 305. I’m trying to fit a 3-wood in there on that right side and hit one five or eight yards right of where I was looking and got a firm kick to the right and ended up in a bad spot in that bunker, and it is what it is. Yeah, it can be a little bit difficult sometimes. After my little even-keeled boring golf that I was just cruising along and then you make a hole-in-one on a hole like that especially, it just kind of can be a little bit of a challenge to get back down to the ground and get back into your process.<\/p>\n
“I did the best I could, and overall really solid day.”<\/p>\n
Kirk’s 64 was enough to give him a one-shot lead over Canada\u2019s Taylor Pendrith, France\u2019s Matthieu Pavon and Hideki Matsuyama of Japan \u2013 playing without his regular caddie Shota Hayato, who had his passport stolen during a visit to London after the Olympics.<\/p>\n