Billy Horschel and Chris Kirk were victorious at the last two FedEx Cup playoff events. Both men are tied for the lead at the year's final playoff event, the TOUR Championship, which is taking place at East Lake Golf Club in Atlanta, Georgia.
Horschel and Kirk each carded a 66 in the first round of the tournament and are one shot ahead of Patrick Reed, Jason Day, Jim Furyk and Bubba Watson. Last year's champion, Henrik Stenson, failed to finish in the top 30 at last week's BMW Championship and did not qualify for the playoff finale. Stenson became the sixth FedEx Cup champion who would not have a chance to defend his title.
With Stenson out, there will be a new champion this year. Rory McIlroy is looking to capture his first ever FedEx Cup title as he sits at 1-under and tied with Ryan Palmer, Sergio Garcia, Adam Scott and Rickie Fowler. McIlroy had an up-and-down round, carding three bogeys and four birdies to finish with a 69. Adam Scott did as well, firing five birdies, but nearly canceling them out with four bogeys.
These PGA stars are all tied for 11th place, and Scott will tee off with Fowler tomorrow at 10:00 a.m. while Garcia will be matched with Ryan Palmer at 10:10 a.m. McIlroy will join Brendan Todd at 9:50 a.m. Horschel and Kirk will be hitting the links at 11:00 a.m. and they're no strangers to competing with one another. The two grew up playing amateur golf together and were also teammates in the Walker Cup, which is an amateur competition between teams of two from the United States, Great Britain and Ireland.
"Chris and I get along very well," said Horschel, in this ESPN article. "We seem to always play well when we're paired together."
With the season coming to a close, Horschel and Kirk are the headliners thus far in the tournament competing for the FedEx Cup championship, and they're just as determined as McIlroy and the other top golfers in the world.
"It's our playoffs," Horschel added, referring to the PGA's final four events. "It's like the World Series or the NBA championships and NFL playoffs. And we're all tired and we've just got to figure how to put it out of our mind and go out and play golf."
Kirk and Horschel are number one and two in the FedEx Cup standings, followed by Watson, McIlroy and Hunter Mahan.
