Three Shoot 64s at FedEx St. Jude Classic


England's Greg Owen joined Americans Brooks Koepka and Ryan Palmer atop the leaderboard of the FedEx St. Jude Classic after each opened with 6-under 64s. The $6 million PGA Tour event got underway Thursday at TPC Southwind in Memphis.

Owen, a 43-year-old whose only victory came in 2003 in the European Tour's British Masters, carded six birdies.

Koepka, a 25-year-old Floridian who secured his first Tour win in February at the Phoenix Open, had eight birdies and two bogeys, while the 38-year-old Palmer - a three-time winner - also had a six-birdie outing.

Owen has had 213 starts on the PGA Tour and hasn't visited the winner's circle yet. And though he started with an outstanding round he's certainly not expecting a breakthrough this week. "I don't look at past results," he said. "It means nothing," he told PGATour.com.

"To finally hit the shots I want to hit, I just want to keep hitting them. Wherever it leads us, it leads us."

Trailing by one are American Scott Brown, England's Brian Davis and Australia's Steve Alker. Ben Crane, Tommy Gainey, Alex Prugh, Tom Gillis and Fabian Gomez all started with 66s.

Phil Mickelson has had just two top-10 finishes in 11 starts this year and is hoping to gain momentum heading into next week's U.S. Open, recorded a 68. Mickelson, a five-time major winner, is just a U.S. Open title away from a career Grand Slam.

For updated scores, visit http://www.pgatour.com/leaderboard.html.