Day 1 of FedEx Cup Championship Complete
The Top 30 golfers in the world got the party started on the 2023 FedEx Cup Championship on Thursday. Jordan Spieth and Sepp Straka were the first to tee off, a little before noon local time, and Scottie Scheffler and Viktor Hovland were the last to tee off on Thursday.
As Scheffler and Hovland came in just after 6 p.m. local time, the top of the leaderboard was extremely bunched up. Collin Morikawa, Keegan Bradley, and Viktor Hovland all were at -10 to lead the way, while Scottie Scheffler had a triple bogey on his back nine, but will start Friday in fourth place at -9.
Adam Schenk and Russell Henley are tied for fifth at -8. Matthew Fitzpatrick, Jon Rahm, and Rory Mcllory at -7 for 7th place, while Tyrell Hatton, Xander Schauffele, Wyndham Clark, Brian Harman and Jon Rahm are tied for 10th at -6 for the event.
The Ups and Downs
The best round of the day went to Collin Morikawa. He started at -1, and will start Friday at -10. He shot a 9 under, 61 to vault to the top of the leaderboard. Adam Schenk was solid as well, as he went -7 on the day, and is now -8 for the tournament. Keegan Bradley also fired a -7, 63, and will start Friday at -10 for the event. Tyrell Hatton shot a -6, 64, which puts him right in the mix with three days to go in the event.
Lucas Glover and Emiliano Grillo saw the biggest struggles of the day. Glover shot a +4, 39 on his first nine, but came back a bit on the back nine and settled for +2, 72 for the day. He started at -5, and is now 21st at -3. Grillo started the event at E, and went +3, 73 and is in 30th place by himself
Speaking of up and down, we discussed Scheffler struggling on the back nine, the leader was -3 through 6 holes, then had three bogies and a triple bogey over his next 8 holes, and rallied back a bit and settled at +1 for the day. Scheffler missed a chance to tie for the lead, as he missed a birdie putt from just outside 12 feet.
Jon Rahm saw similar results. After a bogey on 2, Rahm got himself to -2, 33 after the first 9. With bogies at 13, 14 and 15, he eventually found himself at E for the day. Rahm hit a birdie putt at 18 to go 1 under, 69. Rahm started the event at -6.
Finally, Rory Mcllroy, who reportedly started play with a back injury saw and up and down day as well. Rory was +2, 37 on the front nine, but four birdies over the final 9 holes got him to -1 for the day, and -8 for the tournament. Rory struggled on the 18th hole for a bogey, and finished at even for the day and -7 for the tournament.
East Lake Hosting Great Event
This is a $75M prize pool event. The winner of the event will take him $18M, with second place landing $6.5M. The minimum payout for this event is at $500,000. The Top 10 players will win atleast $1M for the event.
Tee times for Friday’s players will be announced later Thursday night. The temperatures will remain high for the event in Atlanta, but fortunately no rain is in the forecast.
2024 Season Coming Up
Following this weekend, many of the top golfers in the world will take a break from the game competitively, and many will travel. The 2024 PGA Tour will not get started until January. This is a change from previous years, when it would start in the fall the year before.
The 2024 PGA Tour officially starts just after New Year in Hawaii. The first two events of the season are in Hawaii, before three in a row in California.
