WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational: Matthew Fitzpatrick moves into lead heading into weekend

Alexis Mansanarez

WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational: Matthew Fitzpatrick moves into lead heading into weekend image

A day after Jon Rahm tied a career best to take control at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, another young professional used a career best to overtake him.

Matthew Fitzpatrick moved into first place (9 under) after carding a 6-under 64. He climbed 12 spots up the leaderboard and has a two-stroke lead over the rest of the field.

Fitzpatrick's round was highlighted by four consecutive birdies at the start, and he had just one hiccup with a bogey on the par-3 8th hole.

He finished with seven total birdies.

Close behind Fitzpatrick in second place (7 under) is the 18-hole leader, Rahm. He's joined by Patrick Cantlay, Cameron Smith and Billy Horschel.

After a mistake-free first round, Rahm had four bogeys Friday. He did finish with back-to-back birdies on the 16th and 17th holes to stay close to the front.

Horschel had the best round of the bunch in contention and used an eagle on the par-5 3rd hole to jump up the standings. He carded 4-under 66 on the day.

Shugo Imahira sits in sixth place (6 under) all by himself and a sizable tie for seventh place (5 under) is highlighted by Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka and Bubba Watson.

 

Alexis Mansanarez