ATLANTA — Top seed Dustin Johnson continued his “good mojo” to earn a tie for the first-round lead with Kevin Chappell and Hideki Matsuyama at the Tour Championship here Thursday.
The power-hitting US Open champion continued to make a fickle game look easy, compiling five birdies in a seemingly-effortless four-under-par 66 in ideal conditions at East Lake.
“I felt like I had good mojo going all day and swung it very nicely,” Johnson told Golf Channel. “I hit a lot of great shots with the irons and drove it nicely. That puts together a good score.”
Johnson, fellow American Chappell and Japan’s Matsuyama headed Australian world number one Jason Day, South Korean Kim Si-woo and American Kevin Kisner by one stroke in the elite 30-man field.
Day continued to feel occasional twinges of the back pain that forced him to pull out of the previous playoff event, the BMW Championship, after three rounds.
The season-ending Tour Championship is the only event on tour that hands out two trophies — one to the tournament winner and another to the winner of the season-long FedExCup points race.
The FedExCup champion will receive $10 million and Johnson, a three-time winner this season, is in pole position. He will win the FedExCup if he also wins the tournament, as would the next four seeds — Patrick Reed, Day, Adam Scott and Paul Casey.
Casey made a 30-foot eagle putt at the par-five 18th for two-under 68, while Scott finished poorly with two late bogeys for a 69 and Reed struggled to a 73.
Johnson hit a couple of wayward drives, but was otherwise a model of consistency.
Joint leader Matsuyama made a nice start on the more difficult front nine and picked up two more shots on the inward half.
Wiesberger ahead
in Bavaria
Bernd Wiesberger surged into the early lead at the European Open in Germany with an eight-under-par 63 Thursday and vowed there would be no repeat of last year’s calamity.
The Austrian made a sensational start to the European Tour tournament for a second year in a row to lead by two strokes from Italy’s Renato Paratore, on a day when more than three hours of play were lost to fog early in the morning at Bad Griesbach.
Wiesberger opened with a 64 in 2015 but followed that with a 76 to miss the cut.
“I’m thinking more of what happened today, keep pushing and playing the game I played today. What happened a year ago, it was a weird week and I know I’m not going to repeat that tomorrow,” said Wiesberger, 30.
Paratore turned in 34 after three birdies and a double-bogey but came to life on the back nine, making an eagle on the 10th and birdies on the 13th, 14th and 15th.
Lucas Bjerregaard, Daniel Im and Steve Webster had all held the lead before Wiesberger’s late charge and they finished the day at five-under. — Agencies
