Tour Championship: Min Woo Lee’s bogey-free 62 leads as Fleetwood stays in contention

By Jack Shaw · East Lake Golf Club, Atlanta · Published: 06:15 BST

• Min Woo Lee leads on eight under after a bogey-free 62 that equalled his best ever round on the PGA Tour.
• Defending champion Tommy Fleetwood shot 66 and sits four off the pace alongside Matt Fitzpatrick on four under.
• Rory McIlroy, chasing a record-extending fourth FedEx Cup, recovered from two early bogeys to sign for a 68.

Australia’s Min Woo Lee blew the Tour Championship wide open with an eight-under 62 at East Lake — and the man he has to shake off is the defending champion. Tommy Fleetwood, four under and four back, is exactly where he wants to be with a $10m FedEx Cup on the line on Sunday.

How the Tour Championship first round unfolded

Lee’s 62 was bogey-free and, by his own account, oddly lonely: playing partner JJ Spaun withdrew through injury after four holes, leaving the Scottish Open champion to negotiate East Lake largely on his own. “It was a little strange at first, just like looking for a playing partner and you’re just there by yourself,” Lee said. “It was more just maintaining speeds and not rushing because I would just catch the group in front and wait. So I had to just slow down a little bit. It worked out.”

Behind him it is congested. Viktor Hovland, the 2023 winner, is two back on six under alongside Collin Morikawa and Chris Gotterup, while world number one Scottie Scheffler birdied the last to reach five under. Fleetwood and Matt Fitzpatrick are on four under, Robert MacIntyre three under after a 30-foot eagle putt at the sixth, and Justin Rose, Alex Fitzpatrick and Rory McIlroy all signed for 68s. Not one of the 29 players to complete the round went over par. For the full round-by-round leaderboard and timeline, follow the coverage at ReadGolf.

Expert angle: why the Tour Championship sets up for Fleetwood from here

A 62 on day one of a season finale is a wonderful headline and a difficult inheritance. Lee arrives at East Lake having finished second from last at the BMW Championship a week ago — this is a player swinging between extremes, not one grinding out a score. Sunday at East Lake rarely rewards extremes.

Fleetwood’s 66 is the more instructive round. This is the golf course where the Englishman finally broke through for his first PGA Tour win in 2025, and a four-under opening without fireworks is precisely the pattern that got him there: fairways, mid-irons, nothing dropped. On a day when the entire field broke or matched par, staying within four of the lead without forcing anything is a position of strength, not a deficit.

The genuine danger sits behind both of them. Scheffler closing with a birdie to reach five under is the sort of quiet, unremarkable first round that tends to end with a trophy. And McIlroy — two over through four holes, then a fightback on the back nine — salvaged a 68 that keeps a record-extending fourth FedEx Cup firmly alive. That is the detail the leaders should note: McIlroy played badly for a quarter of his round and lost almost nothing.

Wrap-up

Three Englishmen, a Scot and a Northern Irishman all within four of the lead makes this the most watchable Sunday in American golf for British viewers all year — and it lands in a busy week across the beat, including Pakistan’s opening-day assault on England at Lord’s. So, three rounds to go: does Fleetwood defend, or is that $10m already Scheffler’s?