Scottie Scheffler’s two-stroke lead in the staggered start at the Tour Championship at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta evaporated after just one hole with a bogey and a birdie by closest competitor Xander Schauffele. Would it be the start of a memorable clash between the two best players of the year?
It’s too soon to say but Scheffler is attempting to suck all the drama out of the FedEx Cup trophy chase, shooting 6-under 65 on Thursday to open up a seven-stroke lead after the first round. Given that he’s won six times this season, it was surprising to learn that it is Scheffler’s first lead after the first round since the 2022 Tour Championship.
Here are five more things to know after Thursday’s action.
Scheffler’s lead grows
After an opening bogey, Scheffler hunkered down and started making birdies, wedging to 4 feet at the third and sinking a 33-foot putt at No. 7. He rattled in three birdies in a row starting at No. 12 to build his lead to four strokes. Then he closed with birdies at 17 and 18 to shoot 65, the low round of the day and stretch his two stroke at the start of the tournament to seven stroks after the first round.
“I’m trying not to think much about the starting strokes stuff,” Scheffler said. “I think it’s still a bit weird with it not being a traditional event. But yeah, it was nice to get off to a good start in the first round, and I feel like I did a lot of things well today.”
Schauffele off his game
It’s hard to say it was an off day for Xander Schauffele given that he broke par at East Lake for the 29th consecutive time but Schauffele struggled off the tee, especially on the back nine.
“I think I scored OK actually for how bad I hit it. But yeah, overall it was kind of a meh day. Wasn’t something to be proud of or disgusted by,” he said.
Schauffele didn’t have his best stuff after making a 9-foot birdie at the first hole to tie for the lead. He made bogeys at Nos. 11 and 15 on the back nine and came home in 1-over 37. He sits T-2 and seven back. He’ll play in the second-to-last group on Friday.
Morikawa gets out of his own way
Collin Morikawa was over 1-over par at the turn when he gave himself a little pep talk.
“I told myself to start only thinking about my shot and not worrying about if the ball is going to be perfect or not. We executed some shots, made some putts,” he said.
Did he ever. He reeled off six consecutive birdies starting at 10 and shot 66 to improve to 9 under.
Collin Morikawa has made six consecutive birdies in the first round of the TOUR Championship (Nos. 10-15), tying the longest birdie streak of his PGA TOUR career (R1/2023 Sentry).
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) August 29, 2024
“I wish it would have started on hole 1, but it’s going to be a good reminder going into the next three days that I’ve just got to see my shot and execute,” he said. “I was just thinking a little bit too much.”
Reviews are in for East Lake restoration
It was the first day for the pros to take on Andrew Green’s restoration of East Lake and the early reviews have been pretty good, especially from Rory McIlroy.
“I love the restoration. I love the golf course. It’s probably six months away from being perfect just because of the firmness of the greens,” McIlroy said. “But I’ve always liked Andrew Green’s work. I like what he did at Congressional, I like what he did at Oak Hill. I like some of the other things I haven’t been there physically but I’ve seen.”
Birdie barrage on Thursday
East Lake presumably was made tougher but not on Thursday. Birdies were made in bunches, including by Sahith Theegala, who stormed home with five circles on the card in his final six holes to shoot 67. Collin Morikawa did one better, reeling off six birdies in a row to start the back nine, his longest string as a pro, and shot 66 to improve to 9 under.
Adam Scott, who finished second last week to advance to the FedEx Cup finale, picked up where he left off and recorded his eighth consecutive first round under par, shooting 5-under 66, and expressed his surprise at the low scoring.
“Yeah, absolutely,” he said. “I thought it was definitely playing tougher. I don’t know if they were the easy pins they just warmed us up with today or what. I didn’t think there would be so many mid-60s scores.”
“I think they did a good job with how the greens are to put some relatively benign pins just because the greens are so firm,” said Wyndham Clark, who started slowly and was 2-over through his first five holes before making an eagle and six birdies in his round of 67.
Justin Thomas, who started the day 10 back, carded seven birdies including at his final two holes, to shoot 5-under 66.
“I don’t know if they just put a lot of water on them or what,” Thomas said. “They definitely were holding better than I thought.”
Friday’s tee times
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Scottie Scheffler’s opening-round lead, early reviews for East Lake among 5 things to know at 2024 Tour Championship
