Scottie Scheffler remains the man to catch in Tour Championship finale at East Lake

Scottie Scheffler took a firm grip in the opening round of the season finale Tour Championship at East Lake with some imperious golf. Starting two shots clear on 10-under of Patrick Cantlay, his nearest pursuer in the 29-strong field, Scheffler had pushed his advantage out to five shots at the turn despite a bogey on nine dropping him back to 12 under for the tournament.

In contrast, Rory McIlroy played a golfing form of snakes and ladders. Teeing up in torrential rain, the two-time FedEx champion would have cherished a quick start but could only watch in horror as he pulled his opening drive way left, the ball sailing out of bounds. He reloaded and found a fairway bunker, a preamble to running up a triple bogey, seven.

With one swing he shunted himself to the periphery of the tournament. At that point he trailed the tournament favourite Scheffler by nine shots, and it was 10 by the time he completed the par three second with a bogey.

As blue skies materialised McIlroy’s fortunes changed for the better, bookending another bogey on the fourth with birdies on the third and fifth. Despite catching the rough with his tee shot on the short par five sixth which meant that he couldn’t reach the green, he compensated beautifully with a superbly judged chip and run that eventually dropped in for an eagle.

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He managed his first par of the round at the seventh, but that required a sand save from a greenside trap. McIlroy birdied eight to get back to level for the day and four under for the tournament but promptly tossed the shot away at nine. A horrible tee shot on the par three, left him with an embedded ball and despite getting a favourable drop he hit a poor chip that led to a bogey.

A couple of pars pre-empted another example of his topsy turvy fortunes, a birdie on the 12th followed by a careless bogey on the 13th, the legacy of another undercooked chip. Xander Schauffele (-9) assumed the role of Scheffler’s closest pursuer, closing the gap to three shots after 12 holes, but the world number one remained the man to catch.

DP World Tour

Meanwhile, on the DP world Tour Alejandro Cañizares and Thriston Lawrence fired opening rounds of 62 to share the lead after the first round of the 2022 Omega European Masters.

Cañizares fired nine birdies and a solitary bogey to join Lawrence at the top of the leaderboard on eight under par. Lawrence went bogey-free around the picturesque Golf Club Crans-Sur-Sierre, making six birdies before closing his round with a pitch-in eagle.

It was a day of mixed fortunes for the Ireland contingent. Northern Ireland’s Jonathan Caldwell shot a two under, 68, to lie in a tie for 32nd place, one clear of David Carey (69) and James Sugrue (69). Paul Dunne signed for a level par, 70, but it proved a very tough day for Dubliner Niall Kearney (76) and Down’s Cormac Sharvin (79).