Russell Henley leads Tour Championship after round one as Scottie Scheffler lurks

Henley, ranked fourth in the world and winner of the Arnold Palmer Invitational earlier this season, pulled away from a congested leaderboard by finishing with three consecutive birdies at East Lake.

His round began with two birdies and an eagle on the front nine, and after a run of steady play that included two more gains, he reignited his charge with a 42-foot birdie putt at the 16th. He followed it with another long strike from 34 feet at 17 before scrambling from a greenside bunker for a final birdie at the par-five 18th.

"I putted as good as I can putt," Henley said. "I felt like I was clear on my reads. Last week I felt like I played really well and didn't give myself a bunch of looks because I couldn't figure out how far the ball was going and struggled a little bit on the looks of those greens.

"(Today) just felt a little more clear in my mind on what I thought the ball was going to do... just kind of free-wheeled it a little bit."

For a brief moment, Henley's lead stretched to three, until Scheffler closed his round with back-to-back birdies for a flawless seven-under 63.

That left Scheffler alone in second, one shot clear of a pack of five players on 64: Justin Thomas, Collin Morikawa, Patrick Cantlay, Robert MacIntyre and Tommy Fleetwood.

Thomas had been in position to lead outright, reaching seven under through 15 holes, but his momentum stalled with a double bogey at the 16th when his chip from the rough failed to reach the green.

Scheffler, the defending FedEx Cup champion, showed his trademark resilience after missing the green at the 10th. He drained a 27-footer for birdie there, added another at the 15th, and holed from long range again at the 17th. At the last, he blasted from a bunker to four feet and made the putt to secure solo second just before storms threatened to suspend play.

Rory McIlroy, second in the FedEx Cup standings, posted a four-under 66. His round included a 30-foot eagle at the sixth and an unlikely birdie at the 18th, where his approach from a bunker sailed over the green, struck the grandstand, and bounced back onto the putting surface, leaving him a 17-footer that he converted.

Unlike last season, when Scheffler's top seeding started him at 10-under and two strokes clear, all 30 players began this year's finale level. The winner at East Lake will walk away with the FedEx Cup and $10 million.