Stewart Cink shares lead in St. Jude Classic

Stewart Cink, who hasn't won on the PGA Tour in nearly eight years, is one of four co-leaders after the first round of the FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tenn., on Thursday.

Cink, Scott Brown, Matt Every and Colombia's Sebastian Munoz each shot 6-under-par 64 at TPC Southwind.

Australia's Matt Jones and South Africa's Charl Schwartzel are tied for fifth at 65, one stroke ahead of Chez Reavie and South Africa's Retief Goosen.

Cink's most recent victory was his lone major title, the 2009 Open Championship at Turnberry in Scotland. The 44-year-old veteran has six career wins.

Earlier this week, Cink made it through qualifying to grab a place in the U.S. Open next week.

"Takes a little bit longer at 44 to get over those kind of days," Cink said. "I did a pretty good job of managing myself out there (Thursday), not getting too bent out of shape about anything good or bad that happened. And it was a solid day. Every part of the game was pretty solid."

Opening his round on the back nine, Cink made four birdies in his first seven holes. He finished the day with three bogeys and nine birdies.

Brown got hot in the middle of his round. He made four consecutive birdies on Nos. 6-9, and he also had consecutive birdies at Nos. 15 and 16.

Every's bogey-free round included an eagle at the par-5 16th hole.

Munoz had six birdies and no bogeys.

Phil Mickelson, who is playing in Memphis but likely will skip the U.S. Open next week to attend his daughter's high school graduation, birdied the 18th hole to end a string of 10 consecutive pars and complete a 69.

Mickelson said an outside chance remains that he could make the U.S. Open at Erin Hills near Milwaukee -- if rain forces a delay in his tee time. The graduation ceremony in Southern California is set for 10 a.m. PT, and his Thursday tee time is 2:20 p.m. CT -- less than 2 1/2 hours later.

"If there was any kind of delay, I'll have everything ready to go and we'll hopefully be able to make it. But it doesn't look too good for that," he said. "The weather looks to be pretty nice next week."