Rd. 1 FedExCup wrap-up: Four of the top five start slowly at East Lake

ATLANTA -- Certainly, it's too early to start dreaming about the FedExCup. Fifty-four holes are left at East Lake, and as first-round co-leader Luke Donald pointed out, "We've all seen how much that fluctuates throughout the week."

The bad news for the field is that one of Donald's fellow Englishmen, Paul Casey, is also one of the co-leaders. Since Casey ranks fifth in points, he can win the FedExCup outright simply by winning the tournament.

The good news for the rest of the field is that the other four members of the coveted top-five -- No. 1 Matt Kuchar, No. 2 Dustin Johnson, No. 3 Charley Hoffman and No. 4 Steve Stricker -- failed to break par on Thursday and are not among the top dozen players on the leaderboard.

But as we mentioned before, it's early.

"It's a long, long week," said 11th-ranked Jim Furyk, whose 67 on Thursday has him in solo fourth. "We're a quarter of the way through the golf tournament. A lot can happen, and I won't be staring at that scoreboard thinking about if I make this putt, I'm going to jump up to what number.

"Maybe late on Sunday if I've got an opportunity to win the golf tournament, I'll start poking around and see if I see any familiar names up there on the leaderboard. And then by that time they have the projections and all that up there where you kind of can't miss them.

"But I mean, we've got a long way to go before you ever think about something like that. Right now it's trying to shoot something in the 60s tomorrow and stay in a good spot.

Yet the fact that four of the top five failed to make an impact Thursday opens up a lot of possibilities. Consider this: Kuchar is currently in solo 19th after shooting a 2-over 72. If he stays in that position, 24 players out of the 30-man field have scenarios that would give them the FedExCup and the $10 million bonus.

Donald, of course, is one of those. Two weeks ago, he entered the BMW Championship with one of the top five spots but dropped to seventh after the tournament.

"The only thing I can control is trying to win this tournament," Donald said, "and unfortunately, I'm outside the top five, so I don't control the FedExCup.

"But if I can go out and win the tournament, then I have a great chance."

Kuchar and Johnson played in Thursday's final group by virtue of their 1-2 standing in points. The two Playoffs winners had similar days too.

Kuchar and Johnson both struggled off the tee, hitting just seven fairways each, and the unpredictable Bermuda rough took its toll.

"I didn't drive it as well as I had been earlier this week," said Kuchar, as he signed autographs outside the East Lake clubhouse. "This course, it's hard playing from the rough even though the rough doesn't seem very penalizing. It's awfully difficult. These greens are so firm, playing from the rough, it's hard to get anything even remotely close to the hole.

"I was just a little bit off with my driver. The course is hard. I think if you're playing from the fairway, your ball's going far enough to have a lot of short irons in then you can take a little more advantage. But you've got to be in the fairway."

Kuchar, who had three bogeys in his first 11 holes, did get a few shots back when he eagled the 15th hole from 49 feet just off the green. But he missed the 18th green and couldn't get up and down for a final par

"It was a bit of a struggle today so to come in at 2 over, it could have been worse," Kuchar said.

Johnson got off to a difficult start, making two bogeys and a double bogey in his first six holes before making an 18-footer at the eighth hole to turn in 38. The lanky South Carolinian then played the back nine in even par after sandwiching a pair of birdies with bookend bogeys starting at the 13th hole.

"I didn't get off to a good start and I didn't drive it quite as straight as I wanted to, but this golf course is hard," Johnson said. "If you're not in the right position off the tee, it's very difficult to get it on the green or even somewhat close to the hole."