Casey, Donald and Ogilvy tied for top at Tour Championship
Three players finished the first round of the Tour Championship tied for the lead yesterday – and, to the possible consternation of US Ryder Cup captain Corey Pavin, none of them were Americans.
Only one was a European Ryder Cup member, however. England's Luke Donald will be at Celtic Manor next week, and he warmed up with a four-under-par 66, the same score carded by Paul Casey and Geoff Ogilvy.
The Australian Ogilvy is obviously not a factor at the Ryder Cup, but Casey could have been selected as a wildcard pick by captain Colin Montgomerie, had he not elected to take Padraig Harrington instead. Yesterday, Casey clearly demonstrated his value in getting round Atlanta's East Lake Golf Club dropping only a solitary shot on the tricky 6th, where he found the water.
But Casey birdied five other holes to share the lead, and the 33-year-old now finds himself well placed to claim his first win of the season, not to mention the $10million bonus payday he'll collect for finishing atop the FedEx Cup table. Of course, making Monty's Ryder Cup decision look a tad hapless may give Casey a little extra impetus too.
Ogilvy and Donald each dropped a couple of shots, though six birdies apiece were enough to keep both men tied for the top with Casey, while Jim Furyk was a stroke behind on three-under, the American shooting a flawless round of three birdies. Korea's KJ Choi is two-under, and Americans Kevin Na, Hunter Mahan and Phil Mickelson are all on one-under, together with Australia's Jason Day.
Of that quartet, Mickelson's round was the most remarkable, the pretender to Tiger Wood's crown shooting a quirky round that featured four bogeys and just one birdie - yet also a pair of eagles, the 40-year-old sinking a 115 yard pitch on the 12th, before putting for his second on the 15th.
Matt Kuchar has already won the Barclays in the run-up to this PGA Tour grand finale, but the 32-year-old had a poor opener yesterday, four bogeys and no birdies, though the US Ryder Cup man salvaged some pride with an eagle on the five par 15th. Kuchar finished two-over.
Dustin Johnson, another US Ryder player expected to do well here, had a similarly disappointing showing. Johnson put himself into a position to win two majors earlier this year only to crumble at the US Open and crash out of the PGA Championship after taking a two stroke penalty for grounding his club in a bunker, ruling him out of the play-off.
But if Johnson is hoping for a change in fortunes, he will have to overcome a first round of three-over, after he bogeyed four holes and doubled the 5th. Three birdies prevented an even more disastrous finish, but the 26-year-old has a lot of ground to make up.
Steve Stricker is another highly rated American who finished way off the pace, coming home four-over after carding four birdies, six bogeys and a double on the 13th. And England's Justin Rose looks similarly unlikely to mount much of a challenge, having birdied three, bogeyed five and double-bogeyed the 6th.
Following his purple patch during the summer when he won two tournaments in three attempts, Rose was talked about as a potential Tour player of the year, but since then the 30-year-old has gone badly off the boil. But with no cut, perhaps the South African-born player can fight his way back into contention over the next three days.
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