Collin Morikawa didn’t waste much time settling in at East Lake.
A bogey on the opening hole could have easily turned into a shaky start, but the 29-year-old Cal grad flipped the round fast, piling up birdies on four of the next five holes and adding three more on the back nine, including one at No. 18, to open the Tour Championship with a 6-under 64 on Thursday in Atlanta.
That put Morikawa in a tie for second place after the first round, just one shot off the pace in a tournament reserved for the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings. The field is down to 29 after JJ Spaun withdrew because of a shoulder injury. The event carries a $40 million total purse, with $10 million going to Sunday’s winner.
Morikawa has plenty of experience in this setting. He has two major titles and seven PGA Tour victories overall, and the Tour Championship has been one of the better stops on his calendar. Since 2020, he has finished in the top 10 three times, including a runner-up finish two years ago.
Thursday’s 64 matched the score he posted in the first round a year ago, though that one didn’t hold up nearly as well over the final three days. In 2024, Morikawa opened with a 66, then backed it up with a 63 in the second round before finishing second.
This time, he shared second with Norway’s Viktor Hovland and Chris Gotterup. Hovland also shot 64, putting together birdies around a bogey at No. 17, while Gotterup posted a bogey-free round with six birdies.
Morikawa said he is not changing his approach just because the season ends here.
"You're not playing more aggressive just because you only have four rounds to end the season. You're not going to do anything stupid," he said.
His birdies came at Nos. 2, 3, 4, 6, 12, 14 and 18, and he’ll tee off Friday at 10:48 a.m. PT.
At the top of the board, Australia’s Min Woo Lee set the early standard with an 8-under 62 in his Tour Championship debut. The 28-year-old owns one PGA Tour win, but he didn’t come into Atlanta on a hot streak.
He arrived ranked No. 21 in the FedEx Cup standings after tying for 47th at the BMW and tying for 55th at the St. Jude, the first stop in the three-week playoffs.
Lee’s round featured eight birdies and no bogeys, with his last birdie coming on No. 18.
The scoring was low across the board. No one failed to make par, only three players shot 70, and four players, including world No.
1 Scottie Scheffler, were tied for fifth after 65s. Six more players finished with 66s.
Scheffler was one of 16 players who closed with a birdie at No. 18, joining Morikawa, Lee, Hovland and Gotterup.
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