World No 1 Scottie Scheffler seven clear of Xander Schauffele and Collin Morikawa at the Tour Championship; Scheffler looking to win the FedExCup for the first time
Scottie Scheffler made a dream start to his bid for a maiden FedExCup victory after surging into a seven-shot lead following the opening round of the PGA Tour’s season-ending Tour Championship.
The world No 1 has already won six times on the PGA Tour this season and arrived at East Lake with a two-shot cushion over closest challenger Xander Schauffele, with Scheffler recovering from a bogey start to take early control of the tournament.
Scheffler fired seven birdies – including five in his last seven holes – to close a round-of-the-day 65 and jump to 16 under, making the 28-year-old the overwhelming favourite to win the season finale and claim the $25m jackpot.
Schauffele’s one-under 70 leaves him tied-second alongside Collin Morikawa, who started his back nine with six consecutive birdies, with Hideki Matsuyama and Keegan Bradley – the winners of the first two Playoff events – in the group sharing fourth on eight under.
Scheffler’s two-shot pre-tournament advantage temporarily disappeared at the par-four first, where he failed to get up and down from short of the green to save par and Schauffele holed an eight-foot birdie to move to nine under.
The FedExCup leader edged back ahead with a close-range birdie at the third but missed a chance from inside 10 feet to double his cushion at the fifth, allowing Schauffele to pull back level when he set up a close-range birdie at the par-five sixth.
Scheffler responded by rolling in a 35-footer at the seventh to regain the solo advantage and reach the turn one ahead, although he only stayed in front when Schauffele squandered an eight-foot birdie opportunity at the par-four 10th.
Schauffele failed to convert from six feet to save par at the 11th and quickly fell further behind, as Scheffler posted back-to-back birdies from the 12th to jump to 13 under and four clear of the field.
Scheffler missed his eagle attempt from 20 feet at the par-five 14th but tapped in for a third straight birdie, as Schauffele holed from 15 feet to also pick up a shot before bogeying the 16th to drop five strokes adrift.
The lead increased further when Scheffler added a 15-foot birdie at the par-four 17th, before a brilliant up and down from the greenside bunker saw him take advantage of par-five last and build the biggest opening-round lead since starting strokes were implemented at the Tour Championship in 2019.
“Yeah, I’m pleased with the day,” Scheffler told Sky Sports. “I tried not to think about any sort of lead or anything like that, my job was to go out there and execute and I felt like I did a really good job of that. I felt like I was doing some good stuff to start the day. I had the bogey on one but after that I felt like I played some really good golf.”
Schauffele mixed three birdies with two bogeys in a frustrating opening round, with Morikawa’s 66 initially equalling the lowest score of the day until Scheffler’s late birdie run.
Matsuyama and Bradley are joined eight back by Adam Scott, Sam Burns and Wyndham Clark, with Sahith Theegala jumping to ninth after five birdies in the last six holes.
Rory McIlroy’s bid for record fourth FedExCup victory required three birdies in the last five holes to salvage a two-under 69, leaving him 10 strokes back, with defending champion Viktor Hovland on four under and tied-20th despite making seven birdies in his opening-round 69.