Scottie Scheffler entered the TOUR Championship with a two-stroke lead, which he extended to five after Thursday's first round at East Lake Golf Club.
As the No. 1 seed in the FedEx Cup standings, Scheffler started the season's finale at 10-under. He shot a 5-under 65 during the first round to move to 15-under.
His five-stroke lead ties the largest lead after a round since starting strokes were first introduced to the TOUR Championship in 2019.
Xander Schauffele is second at 10-under, Matt Fitzpatrick - making his TOUR Championship debut - is third at 9-under, and Joaquin Niemann and Patrick Cantlay are tied for fourth at 8-under.
| PLACE | PLAYER | ROUND 1 SCORE | TOTAL TO PAR |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Scottie Scheffler | 65 | -15 |
| 2 | Xander Schauffele | 66 | -10 |
| 3 | Matt Fitzpatrick | 64 | -9 |
| T4 | Joaquin Niemann | 64 | -8 |
| T4 | Patrick Cantlay | 70 | -8 |
| T6 | Sungjae Im | 67 | -7 |
| T6 | Cameron Smith | 67 | -7 |
| T6 | Rory McIlroy | 67 | -7 |
| T9 | Cameron Young | 67 | -6 |
| T9 | Justin Thomas | 67 | -6 |
| T9 | Jon Rahm | 67 | -6 |
| T9 | Sepp Straka | 68 | -6 |
| T9 | Sam Burns | 69 | -6 |
Rory McIlroy finished the day in a tie for sixth with Sungjae Im and Cameron Smith, though no one in the field had a round quite like the 21-time TOUR winner.
After his opening tee shot went out of bounds, McIlroy made triple-bogey at the hole. He alternated between bogeys and birdies before holing out for eagle at the par-5 sixth. He made just one par in his entire front nine.
The 33-year-old fared better after the turn, making five birdies and a bogey to card a 3-under 67. He entered the tournament at 4-under after ranking seventh on the FedEx Cup standings.
"I knew my game was good, it was just one of those things," McIlroy said of his roller-coaster round, per ASAP Sports. "But not the ideal way to start, but proud of how I bounced back from that."
The lowest round of the day honors went to Fitzpatrick and Niemann, who each had rounds of 64. Both players made eagle at the par-5 18th to finish their day. U.S. Open winner Fitzpatrick was a part of the group that started at 3-under, while Niemann started at 2-under.
But neither's score came close to encroaching on Scheffler's lead Thursday, as the Masters champion had the next-lowest round with 65. Also shooting 5-under rounds were Aaron Wise and J.T. Poston, who are tied for 14th.
Defending TOUR Champion Cantlay - whose win at the BMW Championship last week propelled him into the No. 2 seed spot - struggled to an even-par 70 on Thursday.
He went from being two strokes back of Scheffler to seven after Round 1. It could have been a larger gap had Cantlay not successfully made his eagle putt at No. 18 to get back to even on the round.
Scheffler will look to build upon his lead when he tees off alongside Schauffele in the second round Friday at 1:55 p.m. ET.
