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MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Notes and observations from the first round of the FedEx St. Jude Classic, where Matt Every took the lead among the early finishers with a 6-under-par 64, and Scott Brown, Stewart Cink and Colombian Web.com Tour graduate Sebastian Munoz matched him in the afternoon. Charl Schwartzel, making his first start here since 2010, and Australian Matt Jones got around in 65 and were one back. For more coverage from TPC Southwind, click here for the Daily Wrap-up. EVERY LOOKS TO RALLY The winner of the 2014 and 2015 Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by MasterCard, Matt Every came into this week 206th in driving accuracy (43.23 percebt) and 223rd in FedExCup points. He had missed 17 cuts in 21 starts, withdrawn twice, and made $33,091. Then came Thursday, when he hit 10 of 14 fairways, and 11 of 18 greens in regulation. He also took just 24 strokes on the greens, making 124 feet, 2 inches worth of putts.  The biggest difference, he said: no more issues with the driver. “I drove it really well today,â€� said Every, 33. “So I’ll just kind of ride that into my next couple days.â€� Still, even after shooting his best score this season by five shots, and just his fourth round in the 60s in what has been a trying year, he didn’t want to look too far ahead. “I haven’t played well in a couple years,â€� he said, “and I’ve been out here for like seven or eight, so I kind of know the drill. Like, one round is not that big a deal. It’s nice to play well, but yeah, they don’t hand out trophies after the first round.â€� SCOTT: NEW SCHEDULE IS WORKING Adam Scott shot a 1-over 71 in his first round at the FedEx St. Jude Classic since 2007. All in all, it was not a particularly memorable accomplishment for the 13-time PGA TOUR winner, who struggled on the greens and racked up an unhelpful 30 putts. Still, Scott said his new scheduling wrinkle this year has paid dividends. Rather than take the week off prior to the majors, he decided to play, which is why he’s here. “I’ve set my practice schedules and my playing schedules all around majors a little different this year, and my plan is to play my way into form,â€� said Scott, 36. “It kind of has given me some good results at the Masters and TPC so far, so hopefully again a good week here, the confidence goes up and go tackle the U.S. Open next week.â€� Since 1934, just 11 players have won on TOUR and then won a major the following week, among them Rory McIlroy and Phil Mickelson. But not Scott. With his new scheduling wrinkle this year, he finished T9 at the Masters, and T6 at THE PLAYERS Championship. As for his putting at TPC Southwind on Thursday, he planned to spend some time on the practice green. “No wind, pretty soft, good scores are out there,â€� Scott said. “… It was good scoring out there this morning. I just didn’t make any putts, which is disappointing.â€� THORNBERRY LIVING LARGE Amateur Braden Thornberry, 20, saw plenty of familiar faces in his gallery Thursday. He is from Olive Branch, Miss., which is only about a 45-minute drive southeast of TPC Southwind, and if he didn’t exactly light up the course with a 1-over 71, that was fine. The newly minted NCAA individual champion and Haskins Award winner, he’s done more than enough lately. “It was cool,â€� he said of his first TOUR start. “It was pretty much what I was expecting. A little less nerves off the first than I was expecting. Hit that one down the fairway and kind of went from there, so actually it went pretty well.â€� He made two birdies and no bogeys on the first nine holes of his TOUR career, but struggled with three bogeys on his second. The first Ole Miss Rebel to win the NCAA title, Thornberry tied the school record with seven wins in his sophomore season. Still, there’s college golf and then there’s TOUR golf, and on Thursday he found himself sneaking looks at the stars he grew up watching on TV. “Phil was on No. 2,â€� he said, “and I saw the crowd following him so I wanted to watch him hit a shot or two, so that’s still pretty cool. But trying to stay in my own lane.â€� FEDEX ST. JUDE A MALNATI MAJOR Knoxville resident Peter Malnati admits the FedEx St. Jude may be about as close as he gets to a hometown tournament on the PGA TOUR. And while 32 players in this week’s field have qualified for next week’s U.S. Open at Erin Hills, not so for Malnati. So when Malnati opened his tournament with a double-bogey 6 at the 468-yard 10th hole, where he advanced his second shot, from the right rough, just 26 feet, and later missed a 3 ½-foot bogey putt, he wasn’t about to give up. He made no bogeys and five birdies the rest of the way for a 67, a solid start in his bid to improve his FedExCup number from 186. “I’ve told everyone that kind of where I am in my career, every PGA TOUR event feels like a major to me,â€� said Malnati, who won last year’s Sanderson Farms Championship but has yet to find his form this season, his best being a T27 at the Sony Open of Hawaii. “How many majors have you played? Well, they all feel like a major to me,â€� Malnati continued. “This is my home-state event so it definitely has a little extra kick and it’s fun to see people out. There’s some familiar faces, just people that I’ve known growing up and playing amateur events here in the area, so it’s really cool.â€� ODDS AND ENDS Munoz, 24, would have been in the lead alone had he converted a 10-foot birdie putt on 18. At 197th in the FedExCup, the Bogota native’s 64 was surprising, but he specializes in surprises. The former University of North Texas golfer needed a sponsor’s exemption to get into the Web.com Tour’s Club Colombia Championship Presented by Claro last season—and won. He finished 22nd on the regular season Web.com Tour money list to earn his TOUR card. … Stewart Cink is 60th in the FedExCup race and punched his ticket to the U.S. Open at the 36-hole sectional qualifying Monday. Tired? Nah. Cink, 44, made nine birdies at TPC Southwind on Thursday. One of the keys, he said, has been putting coach Craig Welty, with whom he has been working for about a year. “The thing that was missing though was the exceptional rounds weren’t there before, and now I’m getting a few rounds every now and then like today where it was really rolling,â€� Cink said. He made nearly 120 feet of putts. … Phil Mickelson, who has three top-three finishes in his last four starts in Memphis but has never won the FedEx St. Jude Classic, was frustrated with his play after hitting just five of 14 fairways on the way to a 1-under 71. “This is a successful day in the sense that it’s a round that I could have easily shot 3, 4, 5 over, but I got it under par,â€� he said. … Rickie Fowler, who was coming off a T2 at the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, got off to a disastrous start. Beginning his round on the back nine, he made a double-bogey 6 at the 13th hole and a triple-bogey 7 at the 15th on the way to a 4-over 74. He hit just six of 14 fairways and has work to do just to make the cut. … CALL OF THE DAY SHOT OF THE DAY BEST OF SOCIAL MEDIA

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Robert Streb was in control at The RSM Classic. Then he wasn't. Then he was again. The Strebber became the first player to be a dual winner of the tournament with a playoff win - over another former champion - and a former World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play champion no less in Kevin Kisner. Here are five stories you may have missed from The RSM Classic. 1. Perseverance pays off When Robert Streb won his first PGA TOUR event at the 2014-15 RSM Classic he figured it was the start of a very successful career. He'd proven he could win and now he'd forge ahead. Indeed he had a huge season back then. But that season turned out to be an anomaly in the end. He had more top-10s in the 2014-15 season (nine) than he did in the next five seasons combined (eight). He finished outside the top 125 in the FedExCup from 2018 to 2020. Despite the lack of form, his week at Sea Island was pretty darn impressive. He opened with a career low 65-63 to lead and by the 54-hole mark had a three shot buffer at the top. An incredible bogey-free run of 55 holes was only broken on Sunday at the par-4 13th, which of course was the opening Kevin Kisner was waiting for. After all the effort, a three-putt on the par-5 15th saw him a shot behind the man who won at RSM when Streb defended his title. As everyone turned to thinking Kisner was marching to victory Streb stepped up in an unexpected way. He missed a birdie try at the 16th but then on the 192-yard par-3 17th hit a brilliant shot and converted one of just nine birdies at the hole all day to square things up. Despite a missed chance to win it all on the 72nd hole and then surviving the first hole of sudden death with a scrambling par, Streb went within a whisker of holing out an eagle from the fairway. The tap in birdie would be enough to win. "It’s really nice to say I’ve got more than one (win)," he said. "Winning more than once ... validates what ability you have. It was just kind of unexpected and super nice to get (this win)." Streb rocketed to eighth in the FedExCup with the triumph. Read more about it here. 2. Emotional effort from Villegas For a little while there was that feeling in the air. The feeling that the fairytale win was indeed going to come true. But while Camilo Villegas might not have won the trophy at Sea Island he continues to win over the hearts and minds of fans around the world. Not far removed from losing his daughter to a battle with cancer Villegas continues to honor her legacy the best way he knows how... by bringing awareness to the disease that claimed little Mia and other angels like her. Four birdies on the front nine Sunday gave him a real chance to win but in the end Villegas would settle for a T6 finish. In the grand scheme of things the result was not important. His message though, is ultra-important. Grab some tissues and have a read. 3. Kisner gets groove back. When Kevin Kisner missed the cut at the Masters on Saturday morning - he had to finish up his second round after earlier rain delays - he made a call to nearby Palmetto Golf Club in Aiken where he's spent countless hours honing his game from a young age. He heard there was a skins game on and he wanted in. Word was he wanted to feel what it was like to make birdies again. The gem of a course is a little short for the modern day TOUR star but with a fun routing and incredible green complexes it is a true test for most. The return to his roots clearly worked as Kisner went within inches of getting his second RSM Classic title. A 63 on Sunday was enough to force extra holes and his birdie try on the first extra hole was very close to falling. Kisner now has four top-4 finishes in his last 13 starts on TOUR. A fourth TOUR win can't be too far away. 4. Niemann plays for greater cause. A week ago Joaquin Niemann was bummed a COVID-19 positive test cost him a spot at the Masters. He could care less about that right now. The young star from Chile returned at The RSM Classic with more important things on his mind - namely the terrible plight facing his one-month old cousin. Rafita Calderon, whose father, Felipe, is the cousin of Niemann's mother, was born on Oct. 21 in Talcahuano, Chile and was recently diagnosed with Spinal Muscular Atrophy, which essentially is a breakdown of the nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord. The infant needs a costly infusion to survive so Niemann pledged the entirety of this week's winnings — as well as an additional $5,000 for every birdie and $10,000 for every eagle — towards to cause. Some T44's are worth more than others. Niemann earned $136,450 toward the cause, but the reality is the family will need more than $2 million in total. The International Presidents Cup star will continue to help the fight in every way he can. Read more here. 5. Conners feels the Love The RSM Classic leaderboard wasn't the only one worth watching on Sunday at Sea Island. The widely popular annual Birdies Fore Love campaign was also coming to a close and it was Canadian Corey Conners who came up trumps. The charitable endeavor tracks birdies made across the fall portion of a PGA TOUR season with the player who provides the most given $300,000 to give to a charity of their choice. Conners made a late blitz, finishing tied for 10th at Sea Island, but outlasting Sepp Straka and Sungjae Im on the Birdies Fore Love tally. Conners and his wife, Malory, recently started a foundation to help provide children with educational and athletic opportunities they couldn't otherwise afford. "It’s pretty amazing. I saw my name on the (RSM Birdies Fore Love) leaderboard at the start of the week and I was trying to make as many birdies as I could and trying to get myself up to the top. Pretty humbled to have gotten it done," Conners said. "The generosity of RSM for sponsoring this event and sponsoring a donation, is pretty remarkable. This has been a really tough year for a lot of people and for them to step up like this, I’m going to be able to impact a lot of lives with the $300,000, so it's pretty amazing." Read more here.

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Tiger Woods has had great success at the Firestone Country Club where he’s off to a good start after his first round in his attempt to win for the ninth time at the course.

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