Rory McIlroy is six shots off the pace after the opening day of the Tour Championship as he closed with two birdies in his last four holes to card a two-under 68 at East Lake.
McIlroy needs a victory to clinch a record fourth FedEx Cup title but he has his work cut out as his 68 leaves him in a share of 20th place after a day of low scoring in Atlanta.
Min Woo Lee made his first trip to the TOUR Championship a memorable one, playing bogey-free for an 8-under 62 that matched his career low on the PGA TOUR and gave him a two-shot lead Thursday.
A pair of runners-up this year, at Pebble Beach and the Scottish Open, made Lee a lock to be among the top 30 players who get a shot at the FedExCup, the $10 million prize and a five-year exemption on TOUR. He just hasn’t felt like a top-30 player in recent weeks.
“Very average two weeks the last two weeks. It was probably the saddest I’ve been on the golf course, which is not good,” Lee said. “We’re really lucky to be out here and play some good golf to get into the Playoffs. It just felt so hard.”
There was no such feeling in the opening round of the final event of the FedExCup season. He rarely was under stress to make par, made four of his eight birdies from outside 10 feet and wound up with a lead over Viktor Hovland, Collin Morikawa and Chris Gotterup, each shooting 6-under 64.
Scottie Scheffler started his day with a 6-foot par putt and never came close to another bogey in his round of 65. He also was nearly recovered from the hand, foot and mouth disease he picked up last week that gave him blisters on his feet, hands and throat. The hands were the biggest problem. Those are fine. There’s still a few in his throat, and he sounded much better than a week ago.
The greatest testament came from Matt Fitzpatrick, who also played with him in the opening round at Bellerive Country Club and the BMW Championship last week.
“I played with him last week and he said, ‘Man, I thought I pissed you off or something. You didn’t talk to me for two days,’” Scheffler said. “I was like, ‘No, man, I just couldn’t speak.’”
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