– Russell Henley (-9) is the first leader of the TOUR Championship after the first round. A round of 61 strokes from the Georgia native at an East Lake with receptive and kinder greens than usual, where today only two of the thirty players present recorded scores over par. Regardless, this does not detract from the leader’s merit, who excelled, especially with the putter in hand. What a way to sink putts from all distances, including several long ones. Unstoppable. It’s as if he’s celebrating, free and carefree, his first presence in the Ryder Cup, just confirmed last week.
– Two strokes behind Henley is the usual contender. Scottie Scheffler (-7) doesn’t take days off. He gives no respite. No one hit more fairways than him (12/14); no one hit more greens in regulation than him (15/18); and only two players improved his numbers in the SG:Putting statistic, where he ranks third. A steamroller. The leader of this statistic is precisely Henley, which is normal when one sinks up to three birdie putts from distances exceeding nine and ten metres… That’s why he’s the leader, of course. Or rather: that’s probably why Scheffler isn’t. In this case, the reading is that simple. The persistent level of play of the World Number One reaches simply inhuman heights. He was there, until the end, to win the first playoff, won the second, and we’ll see what happens with this third one, but for now, things look good for the Texan.
– It wouldn’t be surprising if Henley and Scheffler formed a pair in the next Ryder Cup, because they already did in the last Presidents Cup, where Henley also debuted, and it didn’t go too badly for them: they won two matches and lost another on the 18th hole. In fact, the hot zone of the TOUR Championship leaderboard currently looks like a tribute or exciting reminder of the great event awaiting us at Bethpage in a few weeks. Besides Henley and Scheffler, up there are Justin Thomas (-5), Collin Morikawa (-6), Patrick Cantlay (-6), Robert MacIntyre (-6), Tommy Fleetwood (-6), Rory McIlroy (-4), Ludvig Aberg (-4) and Ben Griffin (-4). Of the top eleven in the standings, only Akshay Bhatia will miss the event (Griffin’s participation doesn’t seem one hundred percent certain either). A nice coincidence.
– Not far behind are others who need to make a statement like Keegan Bradley this week, such as Sam Burns (-3) and Cameron Young (-3). However, the much-discussed Harry Hall (PAR) has started more slowly. Just like Bradley (PAR), who at this rate will definitively run out of arguments to choose himself.
– Tomorrow, Friday, play will start three hours earlier (the first match will tee off at eight in the morning in Atlanta) due to an unstable weather forecast. Today, just as Scheffler sank the last putt of the day, the horn sounded as a warning to fans of an approaching powerful storm. Moral: the greens at East Lake will also be receptive tomorrow, and predictably, Scheffler won’t care how they are: he’ll continue doing his thing, crushing and crushing.
