Min Woo Lee surged to an early advantage at the PGA Tour's season‑closing Tour Championship, while Rory McIlroy experienced a mixed start in his quest for FedExCup supremacy. Lee delivered an immaculate, bogey‑free 62 at East Lake Golf Club, tallying eight birdies on a course playing under preferred lies because of overnight rain.
Remarkably, none of the 29 competitors who completed the round managed to stay under par, underscoring the difficulty of the conditions. The 28‑year‑old Australian now enjoys a two‑stroke lead over a trio of challengers—Chris Gotterup, Viktor Hovland and Collin Morikawa. World number one Scottie Scheffler, who finished his opening round with a birdie‑birdie finish to post a 65, closed the gap to within three shots of the lead.
Ludvig Åberg, Akshay Bhatia and Ryan Gerard also sit five under par, while defending champion Tommy Fleetwood lags a shot behind his group that includes fellow Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick and Open champion Ryan Fox. Last week’s BMW Championship victor Wyndham Clark trails by five strokes after carding a three‑under 67. McIlroy, meanwhile, finds himself tied for 20th after a roller‑coaster 68 that featured five birdies offset by three bogeys, a start that leaves him well off the leaderboard but still in contention for a record‑tying fourth FedExCup title.
Lee’s round was marked by a series of back‑to‑back birdies beginning on the fourth hole. He then played the remainder of his round solo after his playing partner, JJ Spaun, withdrew on the sixth tee with a shoulder injury.
The Australian kept swapping the top spot with Hovland, who was playing two groups ahead. Lee capped a flawless front nine by sinking a 20‑foot birdie putt on the eighth and adding another on the ninth, preserving his bogey‑free status. On the back nine, Lee again displayed precision, recording consecutive birdies on the 12th and 13th and adding a close‑range birdie on the 16th. At that point he held a two‑stroke cushion over Hovland, who saw his immaculate day end with a three‑putt bogey from 25 feet on the 17th.
Hovland responded by getting up and down from a greenside bunker to birdie the final par‑five, setting a clubhouse target of six under. Lee matched that closing birdie, restoring his two‑shot lead and equalling the lowest round of his PGA Tour career. "It felt a little odd at first, like I was looking for a playing partner and there was no one there," Lee reflected.
"I just focused on maintaining my tempo and not rushing. I had to slow down a bit, but it paid off." Collin Morikawa, who began his round with a bogey, rallied to post seven birdies, pulling even with Hovland.
Gotterup birdied three of his final five holes, creating a three‑way tie for second place. Åberg finished strong with a three‑birdie finish, joining Bhatia and Gerard at five under.
Scheffler rounded out the top five, holing a 10‑foot birdie on the final hole to post his fourth 65‑or‑better round in five seasons. Scheffler commented on his round: "Aside from the first hole, I wasn’t really fighting for par.
That’s always good here. Every missed fairway at East Lake makes par a struggle. I gave myself chances and managed to snag a couple of birdies at the end." McIlroy’s round was a tale of two halves. He briefly sat at the bottom of the leaderboard after failing to get up and down from a bunker on the first hole and making a bogey on the fourth despite holing an eight‑foot putt.
He recovered with a birdie on the sixth, but missed a short four‑footer on the ninth. The Irishman then produced two birdies in three holes to launch his back‑nine, rebounded from a clumsy bogey on the 14th by sinking a six‑foot birdie on the subsequent par‑three, and added another birdie on the 17th.
He entered the second round with only five players below him on the leaderboard. The tournament’s leaderboard remains fluid as players adjust to the preferred‑lie conditions and the pressure of the FedExCup finale. With Scheffler chasing Lee, Hovland and Morikawa hot on the heels, and McIlroy looking to climb out of the middle of the pack, the final three rounds promise high drama. Fans can follow every swing live on Sky Sports, with coverage continuing Friday at 6 pm on Sky Sports Golf.
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