The Stenson of old shows up at East Lake

Tour Championship leaderboard http://www.pgatour.com/tournaments/tour-championship-by-coca-cola/leaderboard.html

Watching the big Swede Henrik Stenson in the opening round of this Tour Championship reminded me of the Stenson of old, ripping his 3 wood 300 yards off the tee, keeping it out of the tough Bermuda rough, beautiful iron play and a solid putter all of which led to an opening front nine of 29 and an eventual -7 63.

He looked so dominant just like he did in 2013 when he opened with 64 and went on to win this Fed Ex Cup, lapping the field and leading from wire to wire before going across the pond to win the Race to Dubai which he wrapped up with the shot of the year, a 280 yard 3 wood from the fairway to within 3 feet, in Dubai.

Much has been made of the fact he can win this tour's biggest prize without winning a single event all year, he can finish T3 and still be awarded the title, just like Vijay Singh in 2008 when he just had to show up to win, as did Tiger the following year, and that just adds more fuel to the farce that is this playoff system.

Imagine the Blue Jays being awarded the World Series for only making it to the finals.

However I digress, the fact is Henrik has placed 2nd at the Deutsche Bank as he did earlier at the Barclays to move into the all important top 5 at #4, he has got hot at the right time, as Billy Horschel did last year.

East Lake was gettable yesterday, light rain fell for the later pairings in the 28 man field and as a result 16 of the players broke par. Jason Day started on fire with 3 birdies, but took a triple on the 4th with an uncharacteristic drive OB, finishing at -1 69.

The forgotten man Rory McIlroy had a -4 66, as did Open champion Zach Johnson while Jordan Spieth looking relaxed, and paired with Jason Day yet again, shot a 68, part of a group that included Brooks Koepka and Brandt Snedeker.

The weather forecast for today is more overcast skies and rain https://www.google.ca/?gfe_rd=cr&ei=EcrMVb3XM4WN8QeTx63wAQ&gws_rd=ssl#q=weather+forecast+for+atlanta+georgia+today
so expect the scores to continue to be low, and in this form Stenson will be tough to beat.... but there are some pretty good players who can quickly change all that.

Bryan Angus