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Tour Championship: Billy Horschel and Chris Kirk share lead at East Lake in Atlanta

Image: Joint-leaders Chris Kirk and Billy Horschel react after a Kirk birdie

Chris Kirk and Billy Horschel - the top two in the FedExCup standings - share the lead after the first round of the Tour Championship on four-under-par.

First-placed Kirk and second-placed Horschel are two of the five men who know a win in Atlanta will guarantee the $10m FedExCup title, and they both enjoyed identical bogey-free rounds of 66 to sit on top of the leaderboard.

Leaderboard:

(US unless stated)
-4 B Horschel
-4 C Kirk
-3 P Reed
-3 J Day (Aus)
-3 B Watson
-3 J Furyk

Click Here for first round collated scores

Both men, who have each won a playoff event this year, had putts on the 18th green to take the outright lead, with Horschel having the easiest, but neither could convert and they had to settle for a share of the lead.

“My confidence feels pretty high out there,” said Horschel. “Right now the way I’m feeling I feel like every round is going to be a great round for me. I feel like my swing’s good, I’m trying to slow the tempo down a little bit from last week.

“I love being in contention, it’s what every players plays for and it’s been great to be in there the last couple of weeks. We’re all competitive and when you get in contention you want to stay there.”

Chasing pack

Bubba Watson is third in the standings and also tied third at the Tour Championship after an eventful closing stretch to his round, which included a double-bogey six at the 13th when he went for a difficult escape through the trees instead of a straightforward chip out.

However, the Masters champion responded with three straight birdies to get to four under, but after finding the bunker on the last he failed to get up and down to drop to three under, leaving him in a four-man tie for third.

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Jim Furyk also had an eventful finish to his first round, with the 2010 FedExCup champion picking up birdies on four of his last six holes to join the group.

A tired Reed earlier led in the clubhouse on three-under before the later finishers came home, but he was just one behind as he tries to squeeze the last few ounces of energy out of himself after a long run of playing.

“I’m tired, this is the seventh week in a row for us and I’ve not had that before,” Reed said on Sky Sports after his round.

“I’ve been working hard with my swing coach these last couple of days on just trying to get into a rhythm and keep as much energy as possible and we’ve found a good gameplan which seems to be working.

“The rough is really thick out there, also the wind’s blowing a little bit, it seems like it was swirling a little bit today and it just makes it a little bit tougher to get it really close and give you that chance of a makeable birdie.”

Day’s pain

Australian Day is also feeling the strain as he’s needed regular treatment on his back just to make the line-up, so a 67 represents a great return for him – especially without his regular caddie who is was missing due to him also struggling with his back.

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“Since Friday been doing some sessions with my trainer twice a day, so the back feels a lot better than it did last week,” said Day. “When you get that much treatment and massage on your back it put your swing and your timing out a little bit so hopefully as we go along hopefully that will get better,”

Rory McIlroy found it tough going but managed to battle his way to a one-under round of 69 despite not being at his best, as he chases a first elusive FedExCup title.

“It was a grind out there, it feels like every day over the last few weeks has been a grind just trying to get up there and play my best golf,” said McIlroy. “It seems like every step forward I take I’m knocked back one straight away.

“Regardless of prize money and everything I just want to win the FedExCup. Even though this wasn’t the best day I still shot under par and I’m still in the golf tournament.”

Zach Johnson is the other member of the top five in the FedExCup standings and he also had a decent start as he’s just two shots back following a 68 that put him in a tie for seventh, alongside Matt Kuchar, Cameron Tringale and former champion Bill Haas.

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