Rory McIlroy heads to play tennis after FedEx St. Jude Championship opening round, runs into Champions Tour major winner’s son

Rory McIlroy is currently competing in the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship. The first of three FedEx playoffs is being held at TPC Southwind in Memphis, Tennessee.

Mcllroy carded 2-under 68 in the first round at TPC Southwind. On the par-5 3rd, he scored an eagle. On the back nine, he scored two birdies on the 16th and 18th against two bogeys on the 10th and 12th holes.

After the end of the first round, Mcllroy tied for 18th with Cameron Young, Billy Horschel, Wyndham Clark, Collin Morikawa, Erik van Rooyen, Nick Taylor, Harris English, Russell Henley and Jordan Spieth on the leaderboard.

After the round of the 2024 FedEx St. Jude Championship, McIlroy headed to play tennis. He met Champions Tour major winner Doug Barron's son Wiley Barron. Their picture was shared by PGA Tour Champions on X. It captioned the post:

"It's a small world. Doug Barron’s son, Wiley, ran into @McllroyRory at a tennis center in Memphis."

In the pre-tournament press conference, Rory McIlroy described 2024 as a 'pretty good year.' He is positioned third in the FedExCup standings with 2,545 points. Talking about how he looks at the FedEx Cup playoffs, he said (via the PGA Tour):

"I think when the bulk of the season has come and gone and you've got this opportunity of three weeks to … flip the script a little bit or change the narrative and what that season means, I think that's a motivating factor, and part of the reason that I've probably played well in the Playoffs for the last three years."

"Obviously I've got three tournaments … to try to turn a pretty good year into a very good year," he added.

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A look at Rory McIlroy's performance in 2024

Rory McIlroy has had a great 2024 season. He has had two wins, six top-10 finishes and 13 top-25 finishes in 16 starts on the PGA Tour.

Mcllroy won the 2024 Wells Fargo Championship at Quail Hollow Club by five strokes over Xander Scahuffele. He also won the 2024 Zurich Classic of New Orleans with Shane Lowry.

Mcllroy's other notable finishes include a second-place finish at the US Open, a T4 finish at the Genesis Scottish Open, a third-place finish at the Valero Texas Open and a T4 finish at the RBC Canadian Open.

He also won the 2024 Dubai Desert Classic at the beginning of the year on the DP World Tour. Let's take a look at Rory McIlroy's performance in the 2024 season:

2024 OLY Golf (M) Tournaments

• Olympic Men's Golf Competition: T5 (68-69-66-66, 269, -15)

2024 PGA TOUR Tournaments

• AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am: T66 (71-74-69, 214, -2)
• The Genesis Invitational: T24 (74-66-69-70, 279, -5)
• Cognizant Classic: T21 (67-67-72-68, 274, -10)
• Arnold Palmer Invitational pres. by Mastercard: T21 (73-70-68-76, 287, -1)
• THE PLAYERS Championship: T19 (65-73-69-72, 279, -9)
• Valero Texas Open: 3 (69-70-72-66, 277, -11)
• Masters Tournament: T22 (71-77-71-73, 292, +4)
• RBC Heritage: T33 (67-68-68-74, 277, -7)
• Wells Fargo Championship: 1 (67-68-67-65, 267, -17)
• PGA Championship: T12 (66-71-68-67, 272, -12)
• RBC Canadian Open: T4 (66-72-65-64, 267, -13)
• the Memorial Tournament pres. by Workday: T15 (70-71-73-76, 290, +2)
• U.S. Open: 2 (65-72-69-69, 275, -5)
• Genesis Scottish Open: T4 (65-66-67-68, 266, -14)
• The Open: Missed Cut (78-75, 153, +11)

2023-24 DP World Tournaments

• Dubai Invitational: T2 (62-70-67-67, 266, -18)
• Hero Dubai Desert Classic: 1 (71-70-63-70, 274, -14)