Tour Champs: Tom Kim is best Asian at 14th, Morikawa shoots 61 to take lead

Atlanta [US], August 25 : Starting the TOUR Championship nine shots behind the leader, Collin Morikawa compiled one of his finest rounds of the year with a 9-under 61 that included three birdies in a row at the close. At the end of the day, he had vaulted to 10-under after starting the event at 1-under as per the staggered start at the season-ending showpiece.
The world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, whose top place coming into the week placed him 10-under, actually slipped back with a 1-over 71 that saw him fall to 9-under and T-4 place.
Sharing the lead with Morikawa were Viktor Hovland (68), who won the BMW Championship last week, and Ryder Cup hopeful Keegan Bradley (63). Hovland started an 8-under and Bradley started a 3-under. After the first 18 holes, Morikawa, Hovland and Bradley were all 10-under with Scheffler (71) at fourth, Rory McIlroy (70) and Jon Rahm (69) were both 7-under, having started at 7-under and 6-under respectively.
The top Asian was young Tom Kim, who started with a 2-under and added 3-under 67 to get to 5-under and was T-14th. Si Woo Kim, also starting with 2-under shot 70 and was still 2-under and was T-22. Sungjae Im (71) starting at 2-under carded 71 and is now 1-under and T-26th out of 30 players.
After the first round, 16 players in the 30-man field were separated by four shots in the chase for the $18 million FedExCup prize.
Last year McIlroy was 11 shots behind on the front nine of the opening round and six behind going into the last day but still won.
The staggered start is based on FedExCup standings. Scheffler began at 10 under as No. 1, all the way down to the final five players who started at even par. Morikawa was No. 24 in the FedExCup and began at 1 under, but after 18 holes he has the lead.
Scheffler led by as many as five shots on the front nine. And then he had a trio of three-putts, two that cost him momentum, one that cost him the lead. The worst came in the form of a triple bogey on the Par-3 15th, where his tee shot went into the water, followed by a three-putt from 15 feet for a triple-bogey six. Suddenly, he was two behind. A late birdie for 71 put him at 9-under, one shot out of the lead. Last week Scheffler missed three putts from the 6-foot range on the back nine at Olympia Fields, which cost him a chance at winning the BMW Championship.
Bradley last played in the TOUR Championship in 2014 and that was before the staggered start was introduced.