Stanley makes most of East Lake debut
ATLANTA: Kyle Stanley marked his first appearance at East Lake by upstaging the big names to take the firstround lead with a 6underpar 64 at the Tour Championship in Georgia yesterday.
Stanley, 22nd in the FedExCup standings, shrugged off a lack of course knowledge to compile seven birdies and one bogey in perfect conditions in Atlanta.
He leads the elite 30man field by two strokes from fellow Americans Webb Simpson, Daniel Berger and Brooks Koepka, and Englishman Paul Casey.
FedExCup points leader Jordan Spieth recovered from a poor start to card a 3under 67 in the final event of the PGA Tour season.
Justin Thomas, second in the standings, also shot 67.
The winner of the FedExCup on Monday receives $US10 million ($13.7 million).
Stanley ran off four consecutive early birdies en route to his lowest score of the year.
‘‘Obviously I’m happy with the
round today,’’ he told Golf
Channel.
‘‘The key to this course, if you can get it in play off the tee you can score. I like the way the course sets up. I can play my fade off most of the tees.
‘‘The Bermuda rough is very hard to play out of so I’ll just continue to try to hit fairways and greens.’’
Stanley (29) has won twice on the tour, including the Quicken Loans National in July.
‘‘I’ve been in a pretty good place on the golf course, off the golf course,’’ he said.
Spieth was relieved to end the day only three shots off the lead after starting, he said, by hitting several snap hooks. ‘‘I felt like it was really a grind out there. The first four or five holes of the round I was all over the place.
‘‘Threeunder each round is going to be really solid around this course. I probably need to improve a little bit but I feel good where we’re at.’’— Reuters