(Atlanta) Scottie Scheffler looked dominant again as the PGA Tour Championship opened Thursday, shooting a 65 to take a seven-shot lead and a big step toward the FedEx Cup title.
Scheffler is six under in this tournament and 16 under overall.
He birdied five of his last seven holes on a sweltering afternoon at the renovated East Lake Club, pulling away from Xander Schauffele and everyone else.
Collin Morikawa, Adam Scott, Justin Thomas, Aaron Rai and Canadian Taylor Pendrith all shot 66.
As for the FedEx Cup, Scheffler is ranked first with six wins this year, including the Masters Tournament and the Players Championship.
He started the tournament at 10 under par and two shots ahead of Schauffele, winner of the PGA Championship and British Open in 2024.
This is the third consecutive year Scheffler has entered the tournament as the overall leader. He has yet to win the tournament or the $25 million prize pool, however.
“I wasn’t thinking ahead today. There’s no reason to,” Scheffler said. “It’s the first day of the tournament and there’s 72 holes to play. I was just focusing on staying in my world.”
Scheffler took a one-shot lead at the halfway mark with a 35-foot birdie putt on the seventh hole before dropping the field with birdies on the next three holes.
“Scottie was hitting almost every drive into the fairways,” Schauffele said. “He looked like he was in practice.”
Indeed, Scheffler reached the greens in prescribed strokes on no fewer than 16 occasions.
Overall, Morikawa and Schauffele (70) are 9 under par.
A shot behind, there is a large group including Scott, Hideki Matsuyama (70) and Keegan Bradley, who has gone from 50e rank fourth with his victory in the BMW Championship last week.
Pendrith got an eagle on the 18theshortly after a sequence of four birdies in five holes. He is at minus six.