Rory McIlroy lost the first round battle to Scottie Scheffler but it will pale in insignificance if he can keep his foot on the gas and clinch a record fourth FedEx Cup title on Sunday.
McIlroy and Scheffler locked horns at East Lake’s Tour Championship as the two PGA Tour Player of the Year hopefuls fired rounds of 66 and 66 respectively to trail 61 shooter Russell Henley.
McIlroy started steadily with five opening pars but Scheffler was quicker out of the traps with birdies on the second and third.
After birdieing the par-5 6th, the world number one looked on as McIlroy canned a 30-foot eagle putt and followed up with a birdie at the seventh to tie the scores at three-under.
Scheffler birdied the tenth and McIlroy birdied eleven. But McIlroy’s road to the clubhouse was rockier than his playing partners’ as he three-putted for bogey on 14 and mixed birdies on 15 and 18 with a dropped shot on 17.
Scheffler meanwhile, stormed into second place on seven-under with three birdies in his last four holes to cap off a flawless round and he trails Henley by two shots.
Scheffler may have brought his usual ruthless excellence to proceedings but it was McIlroy who provided the fireworks.
On the 18th, both players found the sand and the Masters champion’s bunker shot rattled the green side grandstand and tumbled down to 17-feet and he sunk the putt.
“I have never rooted so hard for somebody’s ball to come back, outside of my partner in a team event,” laughed Scheffler who was delighted to beat the weather hooter.
“Because we’re walking to 18 and Bones told us they were going to blow at any second, so I’m watching his ball fly towards the grandstand. I’m like, oh, my gosh, we’ve got no way of finishing this thing, so I was relieved when I saw it come back on the green.”
Shane Lowry mixed two birdies and two bogeys in a level par 70 where he struggled on the greens.
The Offaly man is tied for 23rd with the likes of US Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley, Chris Gotterup and European wildcard candidate Harry Hall.
Henley will most likely be Scheffler’s partner for at least one session at next month’s Ryder Cup and he is searching for his first win since winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March.
The American made over 200 feet of putts, carding seven birdies and an eagle to lead.
“I just felt like I was at peace if I missed. 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 on the looks of those greens, getting the reads down.
“Just felt a little more clear in my mind on what I thought the ball was going to do and just felt like, yeah, at peace if I missed it. Just kind of free-wheeled it a little bit.”
