MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Webb Simpson’s timing couldn’t have been better.

Clinging to the 26th spot on the season-long points list, just inside the cut off to qualify for next month’s Tour Championship, Simpson got off to a quick start Sunday at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational with an eagle at the third and a birdie at the sixth.

He picked up the pace with back-to-back birdies at Nos. 10 and 11 to move to 11 under for the week and just three shots off the lead held by Brooks Koepka.

“When I birdied 10 and 11, I just wanted to see how far I was behind the leaders,” Simpson said. “That was kind of the first time I saw that Brooks got off to a great start as well and knew that I needed to keep making birdies at that point.”

He managed to move to within two strokes of Koepka with birdies at Nos. 13 and 16 but his final-round 64 left him alone in second place, three shots off the lead.

Despite not getting the victory Simpson moved to 13th on the season-long points race to give his Tour Championship chances a boost.

“It’s big. I took a month off after the U.S. Open, so I needed a low week this week for me to get some points,” he said. “[The Tour Championship] is something we think about all year.”