Henrik Stenson off to another great start at East Lake, leads Tour

And oh, by the way, Stenson won the Tour Championship at East Lake that year and the FedEx Cup $10 million bonus, too.

Not only could he win this tournament despite ranking as just another guy behind the sport’s latest Big Three of Jordan Spieth, Rory McIlroy and Day, there is this: Stenson has a decent chance of pocketing $10 million as the FedExCup victor, and he doesn’t have to win the TOUR Championship to do so.

Stenson holds a two-shot lead over England’s Paul Casey, who opened with a 65, and a three-shot advantage over Rory McIlroy and Zach Johnson, who each shot 66.

However, only the top five in the FedEx Cup standings – Day, Spieth, Rickie Fowler, Henrik Stenson and Bubba Watson – are assured of nabbing the cash with a win regardless of how anyone else finishes.

It turns out, Jason Day is human.

The American team has an injury worry of their own with Jim Furyk in doubt to take his place as he failed to start in the Tour Championship. He just didn’t hit it close enough for birdie chances, made three of them and shot a 68 to join a large group that included Brooks Koepka and Brandt Snedeker. He was on 59 watch Thursday afternoon once he reached eight under par through 12 holes, since East Lake is par 70.

“I didn’t quite hit it as good the last five or six holes as I did for the first 12, but if I could have that (two-shot) spread for the next three days, I think I’ll take it”, he said.

Meanwhile, Steve Alker is tied eighth after a two-under 69 in the Nationwide Children’s Hospital Championship on the Web.com Tour.

But Stenson has a realistic shot at knocking Day off his recent perch atop the game thanks to Day’s turbulent opening round.

Don’t let the humility of Henrik Stenson fool you. However, Stenson played in even par the rest of the way, including his lone bogey of the day at the 17th hole.

“It’s one of those swings, it kind of just got away from me a little bit but I wish I could say I was a machine and I could hit it straight down the gut every single time, 315 yards”, he said.

Stenson occupied the driver’s seat at East Lake as the initial 30-man field for the elite tournament shrank to 28 after 2010 British Open victor Louis Oosthuizen of South Africa withdrew after 13 holes due to a hamstring injury.

Stenson is the one player among the top five in points who has not won a tournament this year, and the sly fox had no regrets about possibly gaming the system.

On the first hole, Day had a 15-foot downhill birdie putt that he poured in the middle.

It’s become his buzz work at the Tour Championship, starting with a question earlier in the week when he was asked whether someone posting a low score made him blink.

Following an inauspicious start at one over through seven holes, McIlroy heated up with three consecutive birdies on Nos. Playing the golf course appears to be much easier.

“Ball striking was really good today”, Casey said.