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Tour Championship Live Blog: Live updates from Round 1 at East Lake

By GOLF WIRE
September 20, 2018
Tiger Woods is playing in his first Tour Championship since 2013.
John David Mercer-USA TODAY

The finale of the 2018 FedEx Cup Playoffs is underway at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta. We’re tracking all of the first round action below with our Tour Championship live blog.

The top 30 players from the entire season are competing for the $10 million FedEx Cup bonus. Tiger Woods, who was unsure he would ever return to pro golf at this time last year, did the unthinkable and made the field. He tees off with Tommy Fleetwood at 12:30 p.m. ET.

Phil Mickelson
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The FedEx Cup leader heading into this week is Bryson DeChambeau, who won the first two playoff events. He’s one of five players who can simply win the Tour Championship to win the Cup.

Follow the first round below.

FULL ROUND 1 SCORES | HOW EACH PLAYER CAN WIN

(ALL TIMES ET / REFRESH THE PAGE FOR THE LATEST UPDATES)

4:27: Tee times not out for tomorrow yet but Woods will be right around 12 or 12:30 p.m. ET. Stay tuned.

4:21: It was a 28-footer Tiger drained for his 65. He and Rickie share the lead and Woodland is one back at four under.

4:19: Boom! Tiger drains his eagle putt to match Fowler’s 65 and grab a share of the first-round lead. What a finish.

4:13: Tiger with 255 to the green and a 5-wood… eagle putt coming up.

4:09: The FedEx Cup leader, Bryson DeChambeau, is struggling today. He’s four over at the turn and tied for Phil Mickelson in last place. Dustin Johnson is also three over and T26.

4:06: East Lake closes with a par-5 and Tiger cuts the corner and keeps it in the first cut of the rough. He was about 3 inches away from it nestling in the thick stuff, so we’ll see what he’s got left from here.

4:04: Woods knocks in his par and heads to the 18th hole two off the lead at three under.

4:03: Fowler with a two-putt birdie on the par-5 18th and he’s your clubhouse leader with a five-under 65. Gary Woodland is in with a four-under 66.

4:02: Pretty good shot from Tiger. He has about 4 feet left for par.

3:57: Tiger misses the green deep and left. Not in a good spot. It falls down into a collection area and he’ll have a tight lie short-sided.

3:52: Looks like Tiger barely misses the fairway right on the par-4 17th. We’ll see his angle.

3:48: Two-putt par for Tiger. Not a great birdie try and he cleans up his par from 4 feet. On to 17.

3:44: Tiger finds the green but will have about 30 feet or so for birdie coming up.

3:39: Brooks Koepka birdies the 10th and he’s now among the group at three under. Meanwhile Tiger finds the left side of the fairway on 16.

3:35: Rory birdies 14 and he’s back to three under and one off the lead.

3:33: Tiger with a great shot into the par-3 15th and settles for a tap-in par. Barely missed his birdie putt. Ouch.

3:29: Fowler now leads at four under with two to play, but Woods and Woodland are both three under. Big group at two under as well.

3:24: Here’s Tiger’s birdie on 14.

3:22: Tiger finds the fairway at 14 and then goes pin-seeking. Another birdie and he’s one off the lead.

3:13: And I jinx Rory. He makes double bogey after missing the short comebacker. Meanwhile Tiger cleans up his par and Rickie Fowler is your leader by two!

3:07: McIlroy lips out from waaaay downtown. Will likely be a bogey if he can clean this up from a few feet.

3:05: Tiger finds the left rough on 13, and from 137 out he punches into the greenside bunker. Lots of green to work with though.

3:03: Fowler drains a long birdie putt on 14 and he ties Rory for the lead at four under. Meanwhile McIlroy will have about 20 feet for par coming up.

2:58: Woods walks this one in for birdie. He’s two under now after 12, two back of leader Rory McIlroy.

2:55: Fairway for Tiger on 12 and he has a good angle to attack and sticks it to five feet. Needs to get a putt to drop.

2:52: Uh oh, Bryson doubles the par-4 4th hole and he’s two over.

2:46: Tiger finds the green on the par-3 11th, but misses it low. He’s nooooooooot happy. Par.

2:36: Tiger decides to hit putter from a foot off the green at 10. He hits a nice one in terms of speed. Tap-in par. -1 thru 10.

2:33: Tiger comes up just short of the green with his approach shot from the left rough at 10.

2:30: Big change on top of the leaderboard: McIlroy makes bogey at 8, and at the same time Fowler makes birdie at 11, so Rickie and Rory are now tied for the lead at -3.

2:28: Tiger’s tee shot at 10 just sneaks into the left rough.

2:25: Tiger rolls his par putt in, so he finishes the front-nine at -1. He’s looked great so far off the tee, and he has hit nearly every green in regulation. Now he just needs to putt better and start hitting his approaches a little closer to the hole to go lower on the back.

2:23: TIger hits a beauty from the bunker at 9. He has 18 inches left to save par.

2:22: If the FedEx Cup were to end right now, your 2018 champion would be… Rory McIlroy. His hot start has him on top of the rankings.

2:19: At the long par-3 9th, Tiger hits a 5-iron short of the green into a bunker. It was almost perfect, but he’ll have a straightforward sand shot for his second.

2:16: Tiger juuuussst misses his birdie putt at 8. He’s stuck at -1 as he heads to the 9th tee.

2:14: Both DeChambeau and Rose (our FedEx Cup Nos. 1 and 2) made par at 1.

2:12: McIlroy had a great shot at making his fifth birdie at 7, but his putt just missed the cup. He remains at -4.

2:10: Tiger did not look happy after hitting his approach at 8, but I don’t know why. He hits a nice one in tight to about 10 feet for another look at birdie.

2:07: Tiger gets back into his fairways-hit groove at 8. He’s safely in the short grass with his tee shot.

2:05: Here’s a look at McIlroy’s most recent birdie at 6:

2:02: Tiger rolls his initial 37-foot putt to 3 feet. He taps that in to remain at -1. Meanwhile, our FedEx leaders Bryson DeChambeau and World No. 1 Justin Rose just hit their opening tee shots, so all 30 players are on the course.

1:59: Tiger misses his first fairway of the day at 7, but he adds another green in regulation to his stat book at the par-4. He is 100% in that category so far today.

1:57: McIlroy drains another birdie putt at 6 to move to -4 and grow his lead to two shots. He’s looking great so far.

1:54: Rickie Fowler has improved to -2 with three birdies over his last four holes. He’s just one back of McIlroy.

1:50: Here’s a look at Tiger’s second birdie of the day:

1:47: Tiger hits a poor chip for his third shot at 6, leaving himself 15 feet from the hole. But he poured that one in the hole for his second-straight birdie. That’s about 41 feet of putts made in the last two holes for Tiger. He’s now reached -1.

1:38: Tiger chooses to hit a wood and go for the green in 2 at the the 6th. He hits an OK one, but it falls off to the left, ending up greenside in deep rough.

1:33: Tiger hits another beautiful tee shot at the par-5 6th, safely in the fairway. Here’s a look at Tiger’s birdie putt at 5:

1:32: That’s more like it! Tiger rolls in his long 26-footer at 5 for his first birdie of the day. That moves him back to even par.

1:30: Meanwhile, Rory McIlroy just made his third birdie in a row to move into the lead at -3.

1:26: He probably wants that one back. With a sand wedge in his hand, Tiger hits the green with his approach at 5, but it’s well short of the hole. That’s not good considering the position he was in.

1:23: Another hole, another fairway hit for Tiger at 5. Now if only he could convert his solid drives into birdies.

1:19: Tiger knocks in his remaining putt for a third-straight par. He hasn’t holed any long putts today, but he’s been solid from short-range (other than one major blip at the 1st).

1:17: Once again, Tiger can’t sink his putt for birdie. He put too much pace on that causing it to run past the hole a few feet. He’ll have to make a knee-knocker to avoid dropping another shot.

1:14: In what’s becoming a routine early in his first round, Tiger follows a big drive at 4 with a fine approach shot to 15 feet. Now he’s hoping he can break the routine and make the birdie putt for a change.

1:10; Despite his struggles on the greens, Tiger looks as solid as he has all year on the tee. He knocks another driver into the middle of the fairway at the par-4 4th.

1:07: Tiger just can’t get any putts to drop early. He misses his shortish birdie try at 3 and settles for par. He’s still +1.

1:02: Tiger hits a gorgeous approach from 125 yards at 3. He’ll have under 10 feet for bogey there.

 1:00: Leishman bogeys 6, so now there are ZERO players under par early at East lake.

12:57: Woods clubs down and hits his tee shot 265 yards into the fairway at the par-4 3rd.

12:56: Over an hour into the first round, we still only have one player under par, Marc Leishman at -1.

12:53: Tiger can’t convert his 16-foot birdie putt at 2. He taps in for par, still at +1.

12:50: At the 197-yard par-3 2nd, Tiger hits his tee shot on the green, 15 feet away from the hole.

12:48: Australian Marc Leishman birdies the 5th to take the early lead at -1.

12:45: Tiger makes a solid stroke with his par putt but it lips out of the cup. That results in a really disappointing bogey for Tiger.  Fleetwood can’t convert his own longer par try, so he also drops to +1.

12:43: Tiger taps his fast, downhill putt but not softly enough. It rolls a good 2-3 feet past the hole.

12:41: Here’s a look at Tiger’s opening tee shot:

12:40: Fleetwood threads a punch-shot through the trees back into the fairway. After a long wait, Tiger knocks his approach longer than he would have liked but safely on the green. He’ll have about 25 feet for an opening birdie.

12:36: Fleetwood is deep in the trees and in trouble at 1. Not the way he wanted to start his tournament off.

12:33: Tiger’s drive at 1 landed softly, coming to rest 295 yards from the tee. He has dramatically improved his driving the past few weeks after a shaft change. 155 left to the hole.

12:32: Fleetwood (ranked 19th) is up first and he knocks it well right into the trees. Woods (ranked 20th) pulls driver and blasts it down the middle of the fairway.

12:30: Tiger is on the tee with playing partner Tommy Fleetwood. Tiger is decked out in a pink shirt today.

12:25: Rickie Fowler just saved par at 1. Fowler missed the beginning of the Playoffs due to injury, but he comes in ranked 23rd.

12:22: A view of East Lake:

12:20: Good afternoon, golf fans. The first round of the Tour Championship is underway at East Lake. Currently no players are under par early in the day. Tiger Woods tees off in 10 minutes.