Tour Championship 2021: Patrick Cantlay Holds 2-Shot Lead over Jon Rahm After Round 1

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Patrick Cantlay may not like the Tour Championship format, but he used it to his advantage to stay ahead of the field Thursday.

Cantlay carded a three-under 67 in the opening round at Atlanta’s East Lake Golf Club, putting him at 13 under overall and two strokes ahead of second-place Jon Rahm. 

Under the format adopted by the PGA in 2019, the leader in FedEx cup points heading into the Tour Championship begins the event at 10 under. The golfer in second place begins at eight under, third at seven under, fourth at six under and fifth at five under. Beginning with the sixth-ranked golfer through the field of 30, the golfers are put into groups of five and lose a stroke per grouping. Golfers 26-30 begin the event at even par.

Cantlay, whose win at last week’s BMW Championship put him in the lead ahead of the season finale, said he doesn’t like the structure of the event. 

“I think, frankly, it’s not a good format,” Cantlay told reporters. “I think it’s obvious why they went to the format because the previous format was confusing. I think this format is less confusing. But I don’t think it’s a good format.”

“I dislike the fact that we no longer have a Tour Champion. So I dislike the fact that no one knows, when they look at the leaderboard, who shot the lowest round this week,” Cantlay continued. 

Dislike it as much as he may, the advantage has already gone to Cantlay’s favor. Cantlay would have been two strokes off the lead after Thursday’s opening round if not for the head start. Rahm and Billy Horschel, who barely qualified for the season’s final event, had the day’s best rounds at five under.

Horschel now sits eight strokes off the lead in a tie for 10th place.

Tony Finau, who shot seven strokes worse than Horschel on Thursday, manages to sit one stroke ahead of him thanks to the format. Finau was second in FedEx Cup points entering the week but struggled with an ugly 38 on the front nine on his way to shooting 74.

Harris English and Bryson DeChambeau are in third place on the overall leaderboard at eight under. They are followed by Viktor Hovland, Cameron Smith and Justin Thomas who are tied for fifth at seven under.