Russell Henley shot 61 to move into a two-stroke lead after the first round of the Tour Championship, finishing with three straight birdies to move to nine under par.
Henley took full advantage of a day of low scoring, holing three birdie putts from at least 40 feet and closing with three straight birdies. It leaves him two clear of defending champion Scottie Scheffler, the world number one finishing on his own in second place at the East Lake Golf Club.
Robert MacIntyre and Tommy Fleetwood are a shot further back alongside potential American Ryder Cup picks Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas.
Rory McIlroy was the best of the Irish after his four-under 66, with Shane Lowry finishing on even par.
McIlroy made it to the turn on three under, after a spectacular 30-foot putt for eagle at seven. The back nine was more mixed as the County Down man mixed three birdies with two bogeys.
For Lowry, it was a more consistent day, with two birdies and two bogeys to finish on 70.
The course was set up to be more challenging with pins tucked in corners of the greens but it mattered little. In total, 22 of the 30 players were under par, six players were even and just two players were over par. The combined score of the field was 82 under par.
Perhaps it was the heavy rain that pummelled the Atlanta area Tuesday and Wednesday that helped the golfers, with the opening round 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 Tour Championship winner will also be crowned FedEx champion and will pocket the $10m (€8.6m) on offer.
World number one Scheffler's playing partner McIlroy finished with a fortuitous birdie at the last that even got Scheffler's approval.
The world number two bladed his greenside bunker shot but it cannoned off a grandstand to within 18 feet of the pin and he holed out seconds before the siren sounded for the course to be evacuated because of approaching storms.
Sometimes it pays to be lucky and good.@McIlroyRory closes the day with a bang 💥 pic.twitter.com/d9RAihADLI
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) August 21, 2025
"If it hadn’t have come down and we had to drop, we might not have got finished," said the Northern Irishman.
Scheffler was just as grateful avoiding having to return to putt out on Friday morning, especially as tee times have already been brought forward due to the weather forecast.
"I have never rooted so hard for somebody’s ball to come back, outside of my partner in a team event, because we’re walking to 18 and Bones (Jim McKay, former caddie now on-course television reporter) told us they were going to blow at any second," said the reigning US PGA and Open champion.
"I’m watching his ball fly towards the grandstand and 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."
Additional reporting: PA & Reuters
