ATLANTA — Adam Schenk smashed East Lake Golf Club with a 7-under 63 on a scorching hot day. He was still beaten by two strokes when paired with Collin Morikawa.
Schenk admitted, “It’s a shame to say it, but I have never won here. I guess I am used to losing.” “But I did great, but he played a bit better.”
Schenk can feel better knowing that 26-year-old Morikawa shot his lowest score on the PGA Tour with a 9-under 61, which was as hot and humid as the weather. Morikawa entered the week ranked No. In the staggered starting, Morikawa began the tournament with a score of 1 under par and was 9 strokes back from the FedEx Cup leader Scottie Scheffler. He was in the thick trophy hunt by the end of the day, tied for the lead with Keegan Bradly (63), and Viktor Hovland (68) at 10 under.
Scheffler (71) had a five-stroke lead on the first nine holes, but he hit the ball in the water at 15, and then made a triple-bogey to lose his advantage. FedEx Cup Champion: At the end of the Tour Championship the player who has the lowest stroke total combined with FedEx Cup starting strokes will be named.
Morikawa said, “I guess there’s no better time than our Tour Championship for me to start playing golf.”
He said that he had made some small changes to his set-up on Tuesday and his iron game shone Thursday. His approach shots were the best in the field, he gained almost four strokes and hit 16 greens within regulation. He also ranked number one in proximity. Morikawa, walking up the 15 thhole with his caddie JJ Jakovac joked that he’d already hit more pin-high shots than he did in four rounds of most recent tournaments. Morikawa was so confident that he didn’t bother to look at the ball as he walked up the 224-yard par-3 hole 15 .
He said, “Because it was clear where I wanted to go and I had that kind of control.”
Morikawa had a rare misfire, but he was lucky to get a birdie when his tee-shot at the 5th hole ricocheted back off a branch and onto the fairway.
He said, “That’s the kind of momentum stuff I haven’t really seen this year.”
He made eagle on the next hole after hitting his second shot 224 yards from inside 4 feet. Morikawa, Schenk and their combined 15 birdies were accompanied by that eagle. They also made nary a single bogey. This would have been a 13-under-57 best-ball. Both agreed they fed off of each other throughout the round.
Morikawa stated, “There is a rhythm in it.” It was really, really simple for us both.
Schenk (31), who started the tournament nine strokes behind, closed the gap by four birdies on his final five holes to improve to T-5.
Schenk said that the round was “one of those days when nothing could go wrong.” Schenk is chasing his first Tour title.
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