Russell Henley posts 61 to lead Tour Championship amid easy conditions
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Russell Henley of the United States plays his shot from the first tee during the first round of the Tour Championship.
PHOTO: AFP
ATLANTA – East Lake Golf Club, where, oh where, is thy sting?
In the first round of the FedExCup play-off finale on Thursday, most of the 30-player field at the Tour Championship excelled at the historic course.
Russell Henley led the way with a nine-under 61, including three straight birdies to end the round.
World No. 1 and defending champion Scottie Scheffler is just two strokes behind at seven-under 63. Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Justin Thomas, Robert MacIntyre of Scotland and Tommy Fleetwood of England were three strokes back at six under on a crowded leaderboard.
In total, 22 players were under par, six players were even and just two players were over par.
Perhaps it was the heavy rain that pummeled the Atlanta area on Tuesday and Wednesday that helped the golfers. Round 1 was played under preferred lies rules due to evening downpours. This allowed balls on the fairways or other closely mown areas to be lifted, cleaned and placed in a preferred spot.
The course was set up to be more challenging with pins tucked in corners of the greens. It turns out, that didn’t matter.
“Just with conditions right now, flags barely moving and it’s rained a lot over the last day, so things that you can’t control,” Morikawa said. “It’s just Mother Nature. When conditions are like that, we’re going to be firing at pins. That’s just the nature of what we do.
“Lift, clean and place, you’ve got a lot of wedges on this golf course. Can’t really do much to tuck (pins) away because even if you do tuck them in corners, we’re firing away with a wedge.”
Henley finished with seven birdies and an eagle at No. 6. Five of his birdies came on the back nine, including the final three holes.
“I felt like I was clear on my reads. Last week, I felt like I played really well and didn’t give myself a bunch of looks because I couldn’t figure out how far the ball was going and struggled a little bit,” he said.
“Just felt a little more clear in my mind on what I thought the ball was going to do.”
Some players thought there may have been an even lower score to be had.
“I started with three birdies, so there was 59 out there at that point,” Fleetwood said. “Unbelievable score (by Henley). Just unbelievable score.”
Scheffler, who won last week’s BMW Championship for his fifth title of the season, birdied three of the final four holes in a bogey-free round.
Playing in the final pairing with Scheffler, Northern Ireland star Rory McIlroy settled for a four-under 66. REUTERS
