Dustin Johnson keeps going to East Lake

Johnson only has to win the Tour Championship to capture the $10 million FedEx Cup bonus.

Day continued to struggle with a back injury that has affected him on several occasions this season, a problem which also caused him to pull out of the BMW Championship two weeks ago during the final round.

ADustin Johnson was in trouble in the first moments of the day Thursday, but not for very long.

The injury will end Day’s season and there is not now a timetable known for his return.

Top seed Dustin Johnson birdied the final hole to move into a three-way tie for the lead after the opening round of the Tour Championship in Atlanta on Thursday.

The power-hitting U.S. Open champion continued to make a fickle game look easy, compiling five birdies in a seemingly-effortless four-under-par 66 in ideal conditions at East Lake. “Obviously, I’m playing good right now”.

Jason Day is part of the group at least-3.

“I think with time I’ll slowly get better and better because I feel the game and my hard work has put me in this position”.

“I would give a headache to Dustin”, he began.

The chances of that looked slim after McIlroy carded back-to-back double bogeys to reach the turn in two over par, but the four-time Major victor birdied four holes in a row on the back nine to card an opening two-under-par 68 matched by playing partner Paul Casey.

Johnson took the lead with two birdies to start the back nine and finished at 7-under 133, one shot ahead of Kevin Chappell (68).

“There was a couple of drives out there where – just off the top of the transition, felt a bit of a sharp pain in my back”, Day said after round one.

That wasn’t the case for Phil Mickelson. On the next hole, he sent his tee shot out of bounds and he committed a triple bogey before scoring a double bogey.

Fellow Queenslander and playing partner Adam Scott could have been sharing fourth place with Day but two late bogies in his round saw him drop out of the top-10 with his under 69.

Fowler missed the 11th fairway and ended his streak of 55 consecutive holes without a bogey, losing the lead in the process.

Johnson is No. 1 in the FedEx Cup standings and Day fourth, meaning both are in control of their destiny.

The 37-year-old McGirt, ranked 41st in the world, is paired in the opening round with world No. 7 Bubba Watson, a two-time Masters champ and nine-time victor on the tour. Sughrue rallied to tie, pulling even with a par win on the par-4 15th.

McGirt also is chasing another prize – the final spot on the current Ryder Cup team that USA captain Davis Love III will announce Sunday evening.

I am a big believer in par-5s as the closing hole because there is so much risk and reward involved. “Davis said it’s all about strategies and different things”. This is not because of my play or that of others. Since the field is limited to 30 golfers every year, we have less data to observe when coming to a course fit conclusion.