How to watch the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, Round 1: Featured Groups, live scores, tee times, TV times

The PGA TOUR announced Monday the four Featured Groups for Thursday-Friday at the Travelers Championship, to be contested at TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut. For the third consecutive week, the top-five players in the Official World Golf Ranking will be among the 12 players in the Featured Groups. Webb Simpson, winner of last week’s RBC Heritage, tied his career-best position in the OWGR (No. 5) and moved to No. 1 in the FedExCup standings. Full groupings and starting times for the first two rounds of the Travelers Championship will be released officially at approximately noon ET on Tuesday, June 23. HOW TO FOLLOW Television: Thursday-Friday, 3 p.m.-6 p.m. ET (Golf Channel). Saturday-Sunday, 1 p.m.-3 p.m. (Golf Channel), 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (CBS). PGA TOUR LIVE: Thursday-Friday 6:30 a.m.-6 p.m. (featured groups), Saturday-Sunday 7:45 a.m.-3 p.m. (featured groups). Saturday-Sunday 3 p.m.-6 p.m. (featured holes). Radio: Thursday-Friday, 12 p.m.-6 p.m. Saturday-Sunday 1 p.m.-6 p.m. (PGA TOUR Radio on SiriusXM and PGATOUR.com/liveaudio). FEATURED GROUPS Bryson DeChambeau, Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson • DeChambeau, who leads the TOUR in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, has recorded a top-10 in each of his last five starts, including a T8 at last week’s RBC Heritage • McIlroy has two wins when playing the first two rounds of an event with Mickelson (2011 U.S. Open, 2019 THE PLAYERS Championship) • Mickelson, a 44-time PGA TOUR winner, has won the Travelers Championship twice (2001, 2002) Brooks Koepka, Xander Schauffele, Justin Thomas • Koepka was the biggest mover in the FedExCup standings following the RBC Heritage, jumping 56 spots from 204th to No. 148 • Schauffele has two runner-up finishes on the season, with both coming in playoffs (World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions, Sentry Tournament of Champions) • Currently No. 2 in the FedExCup standings and No. 3 in the OWGR, Thomas finished T3 at the 2016 Travelers Championship, his best result in six starts at the event Jon Rahm, Chez Reavie, Webb Simpson • Rahm has four top-10s in seven starts on the season, highlighted by a runner-up result at the Farmers Insurance Open • Reavie earned his second PGA TOUR title at the 2019 Travelers Championship 3,983 days after winning his first (2008 RBC Canadian Open), the 11th-longest span between first and second TOUR wins since 1900 • Simpson moved to No. 1 in the FedExCup standings with his win at the RBC Heritage, holding the top spot for the fourth week in his career and first since the 2013-14 season Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth • Johnson carded four scores in the 60s at last week’s RBC Heritage (T17), doing so in a PGA TOUR event for the first time since the 2019 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational • Morikawa has made the cut in all 22 of his starts as a professional on TOUR, the second-longest streak to start a career on TOUR in the last 30 years (longest: 25/Tiger Woods) • Spieth’s 10th PGA TOUR victory came at the 2017 Travelers Championship after he holed a bunker shot to defeat Daniel Berger in a playoff

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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico – Notes and observations from the final round of the Mayakoba Golf Classic at El Camaleon Golf Club. LEADING LIGHTS KUCHAR GETS IT DONE: Confidence is everything, Matt Kuchar said after winning the Mayakoba Golf Classic by one over Danny Lee (65). It’s the best kind of fuel, and there’s no telling what it might lead to. After a 4 ½ year win drought, including a sub-standard 2017-’18 season that saw him miss the TOUR Championship, Kuchar is excited to see where he can go from here. “I aspire to make Presidents Cup, I aspire to make the TOUR Championship, I aspire to win multiple times in the ’18-’19 season,� Kuchar said. “A major’s still on my list. Those are all goals for me and I think this will help leapfrog that. That confidence because of winning a tournament hopefully propels me to a great ’19.� There were some tense moments after Kuchar bogeyed the 14th and 15th holes, but he made three pars when he had to on the last three holes. His 22-under total broke the tournament record and also marked his career low on TOUR. (For more on Kuchar’s victory, click here.) NOTABLES BOGEYS PLAGUE FOWLER: Rickie Fowler made plenty of birdies at Mayakoba, where he was runner-up a year ago, but again was plagued by what he called “sloppy� play. He made seven birdies but three more bogeys in a final-round 67 that left him T16, eight shots back. FINAU ENJOYS WORKING VACATION: Tony Finau brought his family to Mayakoba and shot a final-round 69 to also finish T16, his best result here since he finished T7 in 2014. CHAMP FINISHES POORLY: Cameron Champ, who won the Sanderson Farms Championship two weeks ago, had a week of late mistakes. After making double bogey to end his third round, Champ made two doubles in his last five holes for a final-round 69 and T10 finish. PEREZ LOW PAST CHAMPION: Pat Perez, who won here two years ago, shot a final-round 67 to finish T6, five shots back of the winner. A new father, Perez has had a busy fall schedule and said he was looking forward to spending some time with his daughter, Piper. OBSERVATIONS LEE ENCOURAGED: Danny Lee couldn’t convert his birdie putt from 20 feet on 18, but shot a 6-under 65 that left him in solo second, one back. As for that putt on 18? He hit it right where he wanted it, he said, but misjudged the speed. The ball never took the break, and missed on the right side of the hole. “I really did hit it on my line where I was looking, but it was a right-edge putt all day,� said Lee, who picked up his best finish since he won the 2015 A Military Tribute at the Greenbrier. “I didn’t want to leave it short and I gave it a little extra, but sometimes it just happens, I guess.� It was Lee’s second runner-up finish on TOUR (T2/2015 TOUR Championship). PIERCY FLIRTS WITH 59: Scott Piercy (62, T6) tied for best round of the week and briefly had designs on breaking 60. He was 9-under through 15 holes, and finished with 12/14 fairways hit, 15/18 greens and 26 putts. “When I birdied 15 I got it to 9 (under par), I was like, I can shoot 59 if I put it in the fairway on 16,� Piercy said. He made three pars coming in to finish T6, his third straight top-10 of the season (T5/THE CJ CUP @ NINE BRIDGES, T10/Shriners Hospitals for Children Open). “Just excited to end the year on a good note,� he said. “That was my goal for the day.� QUOTABLES They hadn’t seen me win in a long time.I found a little something on the range yesterday. SUPERLATIVES Low round: 62, Scott Piercy (T6) Toughest hole: The 428-yard second played to a 4.222 average. Easiest hole: The 554-yard, par-5 fifth played to a 4.472 average. CALL OF THE DAY SHOT OF THE DAY

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SOUTHPORT, England – Mental scars are the most difficult to erase. Despite his best efforts, Jordan Spieth never really purged the demons of that disastrous Sunday at the Masters 15 months ago. Sure, his win in Texas a few weeks later helped. So did three more victories around the world, including his spectacular finish at the Travelers Championship last month. He kept telling us not to worry, that the blown lead at Augusta National – five shots on the back nine – was behind him. It was a couple of bad swings on the 12th hole, nothing else. We wanted to believe him, and why not? He kept winning. But those weren’t majors, and in Spieth’s mind, winning one was the only way to completely get past the 2016 Masters. The only way to erase lingering doubts about his ability to close. So here he was Sunday at The Open Championship. His three-shot lead to start the final round at Royal Birkdale had disappeared in 48 can-you-believe-this minutes. Three bogeys in his first four holes, and now he was tied with playing partner Matt Kuchar at 8 under. The demons began to appear. Negative thoughts. Doubts. Self-destruction. Was it happening again? “It creeps into your head,â€� Spieth said. “I was so confident and all of a sudden, the wheels have kind of come off everything. How do we get back on track to salvage this round and just give yourself a chance at the end? “It took a bogey to do so.â€� Well, it took one of the most drama-filled bogeys in the 146-year history of this event, and one of the most amazing – and impressive – turnarounds you’ll ever see in golf, but yes, the demons are gone now. Jordan Spieth is back on track. Say hello to the Champion Golfer of the Year. And say hello to the third leg of the career Grand Slam. Only Jack Nicklaus has gotten there faster than Spieth, who turns 24 years old on Wednesday. “He’s heard a lot since that ’16 Masters,â€� said Spieth’s caddie, Michael Greller, a vital component in Sunday’s theatrics. “I’m sure somewhere in there, some doubts crept in. He just said, you know what, I know how to do this. He’s done it twice before. Now three times. It was cool to see it, his back against the wall, maybe more than 12 at Augusta in ’16. “To see what he did shows his character and his grit.â€� It wasn’t easy. In fact, Spieth would say afterward that Sunday’s round “’took as much out of me as any day that I’ve ever played golf.â€� Before the round, Spieth tried to keep positive thoughts, and his play through the first three days certainly should have comforted him. But he couldn’t shake the notion that if he failed to convert this 54-hole lead, questions about his closing ability would crescendo. He admitted to feeling the pressure. Unlike the 2016 Masters, Spieth didn’t wait until the back nine to give away the lead. This time, it came early and was spread out over several holes, with Spieth’s putter failing him on a handful of critical and testy par putts. Three-footers started to look like 10 footers. He wondered why shots he had executed before were now failing him. “Sometimes you just can’t really figure it out, put your finger on it,â€� Spieth said. “Am I pulling it? Pushing it? Am I doing both? What’s going on with the stroke? “It’s just searching. And during the round today, I definitely thought any kind of fear or advantage that you can have in this moment over other individuals – not just Matt Kuchar today but other people that are watching – that’s being taken away by the way that I’m playing right now. And that was really tough to swallow. “That kind of stuff goes into your head. I mean, we walk for two minutes, three minutes in between shots. And you can’t just go blank. You wish you could, but thoughts creep in.â€� After the shaky start, Spieth had managed to build back a two-shot lead thanks to a birdie at the fifth hole and a Kuchar bogey at the sixth. But he still seemed shell-shocked and vulnerable. It reached a point that intervention was needed. Spieth hit his tee shot on the par-3 seventh, then began walking down the fairway. Greller called him back. He wanted to say something. Earlier this month, Spieth had posted a photo from his vacation in Cabo that showed him in the company of elite athletes – including Michael Jordan and Michael Phelps, the two best at their respective sports. “You’re that caliber of an athlete,â€� Greller told Spieth. “But I need you to believe that right now because you’re in a great position in this tournament. This is a new tournament. We’re starting over here.â€� It was a much-needed boost, but the dividends didn’t come immediately. In fact, a two-shot swing at the ninth tied the score again. Four holes later, Spieth was on the verge of a total collapse, his tee shot at the 13th hole sailing 100 yards right of the fairways and rolling down the wrong side of a steep dune into thick grass. It became the moment of truth. Taking his time and weighing his options – it would ultimately take 21 minutes; Spieth apologized profusely to Kuchar for the delay — Spieth took an unplayable lie, then worked with the rules officials to figure out where he could hit his third shot. It was from the unlikeliest of spots – the practice range. Using a 3-iron and unable to see the pin, he sent his shot over the dune and near the green. Then he got up-and-down for bogey. He was 1 shot down. But it was the jolt he needed. Despite the lost stroke, Greller told him the momentum had shifted. For more on the dramatics at the 13th hole, click here. Spieth was now the chaser. The nerves of leading had disappeared. “There was just a different energy about him,â€� Greller said. Explained Spieth: “I was still uncomfortable, but I was able to take that shift that I’m talking about where your mind’s going through a bunch of different thoughts, and able to really take it over to the other side and say, this is a completely new situation. There was no other way I could think and still get the job done.â€� For the first time all day, he wore his gameface. He nearly aced the par-3 14th; his kick-in birdie tied Kuchar. He reached the green in two at the par-5 15th … and of course made the eagle putt from 55 feet. He birdied the par-4 16th from 25 feet, then made an 8-footer at the par-5 17th. Birdie. Eagle. Birdie. Birdie. That’s how you close. The walk toward the packed grandstands at 18 gave him time to exhale … and celebrate. “Jordan is a great champion and certainly played that way in the finishing stretch today,â€� Kuchar said, fighting back the disappointment of his own lost opportunity. “It was impressive stuff when a guy does something like that. All you can really do is sit back, tip your cap and say, ‘Well done.’ “It was certainly a show that he put on.â€� Spieth would rather have used a different script – say 17 pars and a single birdie – to shoot the 1-under 69 he produced Sunday. He’d rather have avoided the drama. He’d rather not frazzle any nerves – his own or his fans. “He would rather play boring golf,â€� Greller said. But maybe this was the way it had to be done. Maybe this is how demons are erased, how mental scars are healed. “There’s lot of roads to get there,â€� Spieth said. “… Closing today was extremely important for the way I look at myself.â€� Finally, he can close the book on the 2016 Masters. Time to sip some wine from the Claret Jug and dream about his first shot next month at the career Slam.  

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