No positive tests, a compelling tournament and lessons learned: How the PGA Tour navigated its first week back

ATLANTA – There was a fear before the TOUR Championship debuted its new format that the FedExCup leader could run away with the tournament and create a weekend devoid of drama. That wasn’t the case Thursday at East Lake Golf Club, though. The two-shot advantage that Justin Thomas held when he stepped on the first tee was gone by the 13th tee. After struggling to find fairways and hitting an iron into the water, Thomas finds himself in a three-way tie for the lead with 54 holes remaining. The leading trio features some of the TOUR’s most successful players over the past two years. They’ve combined to win a FedExCup (Thomas), Rookie of the Year (Xander Schauffele) and two Player of the Year awards (Brooks Koepka, Thomas). Koepka also is the hands-down favorite to win this year’s Player of the Year trophy. RELATED: Tee times | How new format works | JT switched driver shafts after last week’s win The leaders sit at 10 under par, one shot ahead of 2016 FedExCup champion Rory McIlroy. Patrick Cantlay and Georgia Tech alum Matt Kuchar are another shot back. Cantlay started the day in second place, while McIlroy and Kuchar both shot 66. Entering Thursday, there were just five players within five shots of the lead. There are now 12. Schauffele made the biggest move. His 64 was the low round of the day by two strokes. Schauffele won at East Lake two years ago to clinch the Rookie of the Year award, then finished seventh the following year. He’s been under par in eight of his nine rounds at East Lake. The exception was an even-par 70. “For how important and how top-notch this tournament is, it’s a very surprisingly relaxed week. You don’t see a bunch of guys grinding on the range in 90 degrees,â€� Schauffele said. “I just think I’m comfortable, and it sort of feeds into my sort of California vibe surprisingly, just because it’s so laid back.â€� Schauffele won twice this year, at the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions and Sentry Tournament of Champions. He’s shown a propensity for performing well at the game’s biggest events – he had two top-3s in majors this year – and now is trying to win his first FedExCup. Thomas won the season-long title when Schauffele was victorious at the TOUR Championship. Thomas won eight times in the preceding two seasons, but last week’s win at the BMW Championship was the first win of his injury-interrupted 2019 season. He left Medinah discontent with his driver, and that feeling continued Thursday. He hit less than half his fairways during his first-round 70. “It was very, very close out there, but I definitely — that being said, that’s golf, and I just needed to hit the fairways,â€� Thomas said. His most penal shot was with an iron, though. He hit his tee shot into the water at the 150-yard, par-3 15th. Only three players missed that green Thursday, and he was the only player to hit it in the water. Thomas preceded his first round last week with what he coined the “worst warm-up I’ve ever had.â€� Koepka is hoping he can win this week after a frustrating range session. Like Thomas two years ago, Brooks Koepka is trying to wrap up a Player of the Year campaign with a victory in the FedExCup. Koepka already has three wins this season, including a major (PGA Championship) and World Golf Championship (FedEx St. Jude Invitational). Koepka was “freaking out a little bitâ€� while trying to find his game on the range Tuesday. “I never felt that uncomfortable over the putter or just hitting the ball,â€� Koepka said. He described it as “full panic modeâ€� after he made the turn Thursday and hit his tee shot well right of the fairway. “I felt like the train was off the tracks there on 9 and 10,â€� he said. “I hit that ball on 10, 75 yards right. It started 70 right and cut 5, so that wasn’t very good.â€� He regrouped to birdie three of the final four holes, though. He’ll join his Presidents Cup teammate, Schauffele, in the final group. “It’s funny about this game. When it’s going really well, you’re never thinking. And then all of a sudden, everything kind of abandons you, and you’re trying to figure out, what’s the answer? What’s the answer? How do I right the ship? How do I figure it out? And you start looking at ten different things, and odds are it’s one simple thing,â€� Koepka said. The task ahead is straightforward, as well. Now that one round is in the books, there’s no more talk about starting positions or strokes. Fifty-four holes remain and the leaderboard is all that matters.

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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. – Aaron Wise beat Brooks Koepka by two shots in the final round of THE NORTHERN TRUST during last season’s FedExCup Playoffs but walked off the course knowing he needed to adapt to compete with the PGA TOUR Player of the Year. Neither had won the opening Playoff (Wise was fifth, Koepka eighth) but Wise had paid particular attention to Koepka’s ability to hit mid-irons out of the rough and on to the greens during their pairing. The former college star knew there was no way he could do that with his slight frame and if he was to continue his winning habits, he felt he might need to change things up. As a result Wise has since put on 20 pounds of muscle. It was an interesting choice given he had already won the NCAA Championship with Oregon and had trophies from the Mackenzie Tour – PGA TOUR Canada, the Web.com Tour and the PGA TOUR. He is the reigning PGA TOUR Rookie of The Year thanks mainly to his win at the AT&T Byron Nelson last year. So far this season Wise is 101st in the FedExCup with his lone top-10 coming last November at the Mayakoba Golf Classic. Stats suggest it is not getting used to his new frame that is the problem, unless the extra muscle has him hammering putts a little too hard. While ranked 16th on TOUR in Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee Wise is 176th in Strokes Gained: Putting. But on Thursday at the U.S. Open Wise produced his best opening round of the year. He shot a 5-under 66 at Pebble Beach to join a four-way tie for second, just one behind Justin Rose and gained 4.36 strokes on the greens in the round, ranked fourth in the field. “It was solid, it was nice to get my putter going. That’s kind of what’s been missing this whole year for me in a way. And today I was able to putt well,â€� Wise said. “Just really matching line and speed. I don’t think it is stroke-related at all. It’s just reading the putt correctly and hitting it with the appropriate speed and just been doing a lot of drills to emphasize that and it seems to be working.â€� But back to Koepka, the man who has won four of his last eight majors. Wise has built up a friendship with him. And is still trying to learn from him. They played a practice round together this week where Wise was once again keenly observing. “Something I can take away from him is just his calmness,â€� Wise said. “He’s literally the calmest person in the world. It’s just a calming influence and I can kind of just take away his mentality towards these (events), and the fact that he really slows things down and calms things down even more and that works well for him.â€� Just like Koepka Wise isn’t short on confidence. He expects more than he has delivered thus far this season but knows there is still time. He hopes that patience is rewarded. “Winning is kind of a habit,â€� he explains. “The only way you know you can do it is if you actually do it and put yourself in those situations over and over again. And winning last year… just makes you hungrier and makes you want to get there more. “I haven’t had exactly the best year yet but we still have two majors left and a WGC event and the Playoffs. There are still some big events ahead of me and I don’t need to kind of rush and think that this year is over almost already.â€�

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