USPGA champion Keegan Bradley shot a six-under 64 to take the day one lead in the Tour Championship at East Lake.
Donald tops projections after day one in Atlanta
The battle for the $10m FedExCup jackpot hotted up as USPGA champion Keegan Bradley shot a six-under 64 to take the day one lead in the Tour Championship at East Lake.
Bradley, who won the year's final major at nearby Atlantic Athletic Club just over a month ago, resumed his love affair with the Georgia capital by firing seven birdies and just a single bogey to head the elite 30-man field contesting the PGA Tour's concluding play-off event.
The 64 left him two clear of world number one Luke Donald, Chez Reavie and Jason Dufner, the man Bradley beat in a play-off to capture the USPGA just a few miles down the road from East Lake.
Donald had to endure a 30-minute weather delay near the end of his round after playing his first 17 holes in four-under and managed a par on his return at 18 to finish in the three-way tie for second.
The top five in the FedExCup rankings going into this week's event - Webb Simpson, Dustin Johnson, Justin Rose, Donald and Matt Kuchar - all know that victory at East Lake will guarantee them the FedExCup and the $10m bonus fund.
Top-ranked Simpson was in the driving seat at start of play but it's Donald who is now projected to win it with Simpson needing to improve his current position of tied 16th, achieved after a one-under 69.
Simpson would finish in second place if the current positions stayed the same while Bradley, presuming he held on for victory, would be third.
Break par
Much could change though with 54 holes to play and 18 of the 30 players were able to break par 70 in round one.
A five-man bunch sit at three-under, three shots back, and they include FedExCup-chasing Kuchar as well as former East Lake winner Adam Scott. Another Aussie, Jason Day, also signed for a 67 along with Americans Hunter Mahan and Charles Howell III.
As for the other members of the top five in the FedExCup standings, who control their own destiny, second-ranked Johnson fired a level par 70 while Rose finished at one-under.
Phil Mickelson, who again used the belly putter, fired three birdies and just one bogey in a round of two-under 68.
The players will go out in leaderboard order in round two. That means Bradley and Dufner - the two men who contested the play-off at the USPGA - will be the final pairing while Donald will partner Reavie.
