Indian-American Theegala lies ninth as Scheffler pulls ahead at TOUR Championship

Atlanta (USA), Aug 30 (PTI) Starting with a three-stroke advantage thanks to his FedEx Cup standings, India-American golfer Sahith Theegala shot a four-under 67 in the first round to take the ninth spot in the TOUR Championship here.

Theegala, who has qualified for this year’s President’s Cup, is making his debut at the TOUR Championships alongside another Indian-American Akshay Bhatia and Indo-British player Aaron Rai.

Rai, who started at even par, shot five-under and was five-under to be tied 14th, while another Indian-American Bhatia, starting at two-under, shot one-under 70 and was three-under for the 25th position from among the 30 players at the event.

At the TOUR Championship, leading players get starting strokes based on their finish in the FedExCup standings.

Scottie Scheffler started the week with a two-stroke lead on Xander Schauffele and a 10-stroke lead on Justin Thomas, the last man in the field at No. 30 in the standings.

Scheffler started at 10-under and Schauffele started at eight-under and Hideki Matsuyama at seven-under.

Scheffler shot 65 to get to 16-under, Schauffele carded one-under 70 to get to nine-under. Collin Morikawa, starting at four-under, added five-under 66 to get to nine-under with Schauffele.

Matsuyama carded a one-under 70 in the first round of the Playoffs finale at the newly-restored East Lake Golf Club and declared he was pain-free, just six days after withdrawing from the BMW Championship due to a lower back injury.

Matsuyama started the first round on seven-under and three behind top-ranked Scottie Scheffler.

Korea’s Sungjae Im (69), who is making his sixth straight appearance at the event, was five-under at Tied 14th while debutant Byeong Hun An (69) is a stroke back in a share of the 20th place.