Justin Thomas on Thursday missed two short putts in a mediocre even-par 70 on the first day at the Tour Championship, but ended the round tied for the lead with fellow Americans Brooks Koepka and Xander Schauffele.
Thomas was grateful for the unique staggered scoring system, which afforded him a head start at 10-under-par thanks to his top seeding as FedEx Cup points leader entering the season-ending event at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia.
Third seed Koepka birdied three of the final four holes to card a 67 and Schauffele had a 64, the day’s best round by two strokes.
The Americans led the 30-man field by one stroke from Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy (66).
The winner tomorrow is to receive US$15 million, the sport’s biggest payout.
Thomas was grateful for his lofty position after finding the punishing rough several times and also pushing his tee shot into the water for a double-bogey on the par-three 15th.
Add in a couple of missed three-footers and it could have been worse.
The runaway winner of last week’s BMW Championship said that he had paid a price for his slight inaccuracy off the tee, even if his misses were not very far off line.
“The difference between fairway and rough out here ... is so huge,” Thomas said. “To come in the house at 10-under feels pretty good. I thought I played better than I scored.”
“I played a lot of good golf the last five or six holes, other than that dumb mistake on 15,” he said. “I still can’t believe those two short putts. I hit them right where I wanted.”
World No. 1 Koepka said that it had been “weird” teeing off three shots from the lead on the first day, but added that he thought the tournament would feel more normal from now on.
He found some confidence on the greens by sinking a 25-footer at the fourth and then almost holed his approach shot at the next for a tap-in birdie.
Joint leader Schauffele won the 2017 Tour Championship by shooting the best score over 72 holes under the regular scoring system.
This time he might need the best score and then some, after starting as the eighth seed, six strokes behind Thomas.
Schauffele could have enjoyed the sole lead, but he missed a five-foot birdie at the last.
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