THURSDAY ON THE LINKS

TOUR CHAMPIONSHIP

ATLANTA

Kyle Stanley and Jordan Spieth got off to strong starts in the Tour Championship with entirely different goals in mind. Stanley ran off four straight birdies on the front nine, one of them from 40 feet, and then added two more late in his round on a steamy afternoon at East Lake for a 6-under 64. In his Tour Championship debut, he had a two-shot lead over a group that included U.S. Open champion Brooks Koepka. Spieth had a 67, and while it was a grind, he had no gripes about that. He is the No. 1 seed in the FedEx Cup, and no one from the top five had a lower score. That kept Spieth on track in his bid to join Tiger Woods as the only two-time winners of the $10 million bonus since the FedEx Cup began in 2007.

DAP CHAMPIONSHIP

BEACHWOOD

Nicholas Lindheim and Matt Atkins each shot 6-under 64 to share the first-round in the third of four events in the Web.com Tour Finals. Lindheim began his round by holing his second shot on the short par-4 10th hole at Canterbury Golf Club. He shot 6-under 29 on his first nine before coming home in even par. The event is the third of four tournaments that determine 25 PGA Tour cards.

PORTUGAL MASTERS

VILAMOURA, PORTUGAL

Joost Luiten of the Netherlands and George Coetzee of South Africa each shot 7-under-par 64 to share the lead in the first round. Luiten had seven birdies in a bogey-free round in the morning at Dom Pedro Victoria Golf Course, and Coetzee matched him in the afternoon after starting with six birdies in his first eight holes. They take a one-stroke lead over Nino Bertasio of Italy, Gregory Havret of France, Jason Scrivener of Australia, Callum Shinkwin of England, and Ashun Wu of China.

Associated Press