English duo help Brooks Koepka get back to his best in WGC title defence

Brooks Koepka carded an eight-under-par 62, tying his career-best score, to lead the WGC FedEx St Jude Invitational in Memphis by two shots after the first round. Picture: Francois Nel/Getty Images

Helped by some blunt words from one Englishmen and new input from another one, defending champion Brooks Koepka shrugged off his recent poor form to set a hot pace in the WGC FedEx St Jude Invitational in Memphis

The 2013 Scottish Challenge winner carded an eight-under-par 62, tying his career-best score, at TPC Southwind in Memphis to lead by two shots from fellow Americans Rickie Fowler and Brendon Todd.

In his first pro appearance on US soil, Scottish No 1 Bob MacIntyre recovered from a shaky start to sign for a 71, two shots better than Rory McIlroy, to sit joint-46th in the $10.5 million event.

It was a welcome boost for Koepka ahead of his US PGA Championship title defence in San Francisco next week, having struggled to find his form since the PGA Tour's restart last month.

He tied for 32nd in the first event, the Charles Scwab Challenge, then claimed a top-10 finish in the RBC Heritage. But, after that, he missed the cut in the Workday Charity Open, closed with an 80 to finish outside the top 60 in the Memorial Tournament before making another early exit in last week's 3M Open.

"I drove it well, putted well, chipped it well," he said of a round that contained nine birdies, including four in a row to get it up and running. "Did everything very solid. "Missed it in the correct spots and never really felt like I was having to work too hard out there, so that's a little different than it has been. I guess that's why I put in all the work."

After missing the cut in the 3M Open, the 30-year-old put in some hard graft with his two coaches, Claude Harmon and Pete Cowen, having not seen the latter since The Players Championship in March.

"Pete is obviously one of the best coaches ever in my opinion," he said of the Englishman. "I think with Pete, it's more psychological. He'll beat me down, tell me I can't do something, he'll jump on me pretty good and I enjoy that when someone tells me I can't do something."

Another Englishman, Phil Kenyon, is also now part of 'Team Koepka' after the putting guru was asked for some advice earlier in the week.

“On Wednesday, I was talking to him and was like, ‘listen, I'm struggling pretty bad and need your help. There's a reason you're the best out here,’” said Koepka.

“(We) made some adjustments. First off, you always know my ball sits off the toe, so that's changed, it's over the center, over the line now. My heel is usually off the ground and it's no longer off the ground.

"Just the way my left hand kind of works through the putting stroke has become a little bit different. It was kind of the same issue. It goes through the whole golf swing, from putting to full swing.

"So it's nice to have at least a consistent basis of what to do putting all the way through the golf swing.”

Reaping instant rewards, Koepka holed three putts from outside 15 feet in his opening effort and was ranked fourth in strokes gained in putting, having entered this event 140th in that category.

Starting at the tenth, MacIntyre, who was one the last players into the elite field, dropped two shots in his first four holes before reeling off three birdies on the spin to turn in 34, one-under.

After starting for home with a bogey, he then rolled in a 24-footer for a birdie-2 at the fourth only to then take a double-bogey 6 at the next hole.

It was still a decent day's work, though, for the 23-year-old, who sits alongside US Open champion Gary Woodland and former Masters winner Patrick Reed.

In his first event as new world No 1, Spaniard Jon Rahm opened with a topsy-turvy 70 while McIlroy, who can go back to the top of the rankings with a win on Sunday, was close to last in the 78 man field before picking up two late birdies.

Elsewhere, Russell Knox sits joint-18th after the first round in the Barracuda Championship, this week's regular PGA Tour event, at Tahoe Mountain Club in California.

The Florida-based Scot carded an eagle and two birdies in racking up eight points under the modified Stableford scoring system as American duo Ryan Moore and Adam Schenk set the pace with 14 points.

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