Tour Championship: Scottie Scheffler extends lead, Rory McIlroy fights back after starting with triple bogey

Scottie Scheffler took a vice-like grip of the Tour Championship, as Rory McIlroy endured a roller-coaster day at East Lake. World No. 1 Scheffler began the final event of the PGA Tour season with a two-stroke lead, by virtue of topping the FedEx Cup standings.

Ad He was the hunted from the first tee, but produced a passable impression of a gazelle zooming away from a pack of lions as he extended his advantage to five shots. Tour Championship'Better for everyone' — Hovland backs changes to PGA Tour schedule5 HOURS AGO An eagle on six was the highlight for Scheffler, who showed battling skills by grinding out pars when missing a string of fairways mid-way through his opening round of 65. Xander Schauffele is the closest challenger to Scheffler, with the East Lake specialist five back after a round of 66.

McIlroy began six shots adrift of Scheffler. That gap grew to nine back by the second tee, as he made a triple bogey on the first hole after hooking his opening tee shot out of bounds — admittedly in the middle of a torrential downpour. The bleeding continued with a bogey on two after a poor tee shot.

First Round Leaderboard 1. Scottie Scheffler, 15-under 2. Xander Schauffele, 10-under 3.

Matt Fitzpatrick, nine-under T4. Joaquin Niemann, eight-under T4. Patrick Cantlay, eight-under T6.

Sungjae Im, seven-under T6. Cameron Smith, seven-under T6. Rory McIlroy, seven-under McIlroy got his round moving in the right direction with a birdie on three and then thrilled the crowd by chipping in for an eagle on six.