Tour Championship – first spherical
-8 MW Lee (Aus); -6 V Hovland (Nor), C Morikawa (US), C Gotterup (US); -5 R Gerard (US), A Bhatia (US), L Aberg (Swe), S Scheffler (US)
Chosen others: -4 T Fleetwood (Eng), M Fitzpatrick (Eng), R Fox (NZ); -3 R MacIntyre (Sco), W Clark (US); -2 J Rose (Eng), A Fitzpatrick (Eng), R McIlroy (NI)
Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood shot a four-under 66 to place himself in competition, 4 strokes off first-round chief Min Woo Lee on the Tour Championship in Atlanta.
Nonetheless, Northern Eire’s Rory McIlroy endured a combined begin in his bid to win a record-extending fourth Fedex Cup, bogeying two of the primary 4 holes earlier than preventing again on the again 9 to signal for a 68.
Lee, who gained final month’s Scottish Open, carded a bogey-free 62 to set the tempo at eight below as he equalled his finest ever spherical on the PGA Tour in its season-ending occasion at East Lake.
Australia’s Lee is 2 strokes away from Norway’s Viktor Hovland, who triumphed in 2023, and American duo Collin Morikawa and Chris Gotterup.
It was a wonderful show from Lee, who was second from final within the BMW Championship every week in the past and located himself and not using a associate for a lot of the day, with JJ Spaun withdrawing by harm after 4 holes.
“It was just a little unusual at first, identical to in search of a taking part in associate and also you’re simply there by your self,” mentioned Lee.
“It was extra simply sustaining speeds and never speeding as a result of I’d simply catch the group in entrance and wait. So I needed to simply decelerate just a little bit. It labored out.”
Ominously, world primary Scottie Scheffler ended his spherical with a birdie on the 18th to take a seat at 5 below, with England’s Matt Fitzpatrick within the combine at 4 below after additionally making a birdie 4 on the concluding gap.
Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre is at three below, with the spotlight of his day arriving on the sixth gap when he rolled in a putt from over 30 ft for an eagle.
England’s Justin Rose and Alex Fitzpatrick each signed for rounds of 68 on a day when not one of the 29 gamers within the subject to finish the spherical went over par.
The winner on Sunday will take dwelling the Fedex Cup and a $10m (£7.4m) prize.
