American Russell Henley rode a scorching putter to a nine-under par 61 and a two-shot lead over top-ranked Scottie Scheffler on the US PGA Tour Championship, the place a star-studded discipline is chasing a $US10 million ($A15m) prime prize.
Henley, the world No.4 who captured his fifth PGA title on the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, broke free atop a crowded leaderboard with three birdies to shut his spherical at East Lake in Atlanta, Georgia.
Scheffler sits second alone, one shot forward of a bunch of 5 gamers who carded six-under rounds of 64.
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Masters champion Rory McIlroy, second within the standings coming in, carded a four-under par 66 that included an 30-foot eagle on the sixth and the second of the day — an unlikely birdie at 18, the place his shot out of a greenside bunker flew the inexperienced, hit the grandstand and bounced again onto the placing floor to go away him a 17-foot putt.
Henley had made a robust begin with two birdies and an eagle on the entrance 9, including back-to-back birdies at 12 and 13 earlier than he drained a 42-foot birdie at 16 to launch his closing burst.
He added a 34-foot birdie at 17 and received up and down from a greenside bunker for birdie on the par-five 18th.
His 207 complete toes of putts made included three from past 30 toes. “I putted pretty much as good as I can putt,” Henley mentioned. “I felt like I used to be clear on my reads. Final week I felt like I performed very well and didn’t give myself a bunch of appears as a result of I couldn’t work out how far the ball was going and struggled somewhat bit on the appears of these greens.
“(At the moment) simply felt somewhat extra clear in my thoughts on what I assumed the ball was going to do … simply form of free-wheeled it somewhat bit.”
He walked off the 18th inexperienced with a three-shot lead however Scheffler — who has received 5 occasions in his final 10 begins and nabbed main titles on the PGA Championship and British Open this yr — closed with back-to-back birdies in a bogey-free seven-under par 63.
He was a stroke in entrance of 5 gamers sharing third on six-under 64.
“I hit some fairways and I holed some good putts as properly,” mentioned Scheffler, who received his spherical going with birdies on the second and third and added one other on the sixth.
Sad together with his method on the tenth he however rolled in a 27-foot birdie putt, and after a birdie at 15 managed to stand up and down for par from the harmful proper tough under the elevated inexperienced at 16.
“I knew happening there proper of 16 was an enormous penalty,” Scheffler mentioned. “We had talked about it within the apply rounds, and our job was simply to get the ball again on the inexperienced, which I did, and it was good to gap that lengthy putt.” He drilled one other 27-foot birdie at 17, then blasted out of a greenside bunker to 4 toes at 18 and made that putt for solo second moments earlier than approaching thunderstorms would have halted play.
Two-time main winners Justin Thomas and Collin Morikawa have been within the tie for third on 64 alongside fellow American Patrick Cantlay, Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and England’s Tommy Fleetwood.
Thomas was within the lead at seven-under by means of 15 holes, however made a double bogey at 16, the place his chip from the best greenside tough failed to succeed in the inexperienced.
Scheffler, the defending FedEx Cup champion, topped the standings heading into the three playoff occasions and additional solidified that spot with a victory on the penultimate occasion, the BMW Championship, final week.
Final yr Scheffler’s place atop the factors record meant he began the Tour Championship at 10-under and with a two-stroke benefit over the quantity two on the record.
This yr, all 30 gamers who made the finale began even with the winner to gather $US10 million.
A whopping A$155m in complete will likely be cut up between the sector however there aren’t any Australians on this yr’s occasion with the final remaining hope, Jason Day, falling in need of qualifying.
TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP ROUND 1 SCORES
First-round scores on Thursday within the US PGA Tour Championship at East Lake Nation Membership in Atlanta, Georgia (USA except famous, par-70):
61 – Russell Henley
63 – Scottie Scheffler
64 – Justin Thomas, Patrick Cantlay, Collin Morikawa, Robert MacIntyre (SCO), Tommy Fleetwood (ENG)
66 – Rory McIlroy (NIR), Ludvig Aberg (SWE), Akshay Bhatia, Ben Griffin
67 – Brian Harman, Sam Burns, Cameron Younger, Jacob Bridgeman, Nick Taylor (CAN)
68 – Im Sung-jae (KOR), Viktor Hovland (NOR), Harris English, J.J. Spaun
69 – Justin Rose (ENG), Hideki Matsuyama (JPN)
70 – Harry Corridor (ENG), Corey Conners (CAN), Keegan Bradley, Andrew Novak, Christopher Gotterup , Shane Lowry (IRL)
71 – Maverick McNealy
74 – Sepp Straka (AUT)