Henrik Stenson takes two-shot lead at PGA’s Tour Championship

Just getting to East Lake is the challenge for Henrik Stenson. Playing the golf course appears to be the easy part.

Two years after his wire-to-wire victory to capture the FedEx Cup, Stenson was just as dominant Thursday until he stalled at the end and had to settle for a seven-under-par 63 and a two-shot lead over Paul Casey in the Tour Championship.

Stenson ripped a four-wood from 288 yards to within 25 feet and made the eagle putt on the par-five ninth to go out in 29. He added two more birdies to reach eight under through 12 holes until he made pars the rest of the way and his lone bogey on the 17th.

Even so, it was just the start he wanted on a course that he has figured out. Stenson opened with a 64 two years ago, stretched his lead to as many as nine shots in the third round and joined Tom Watson as the only wire-to-wire winners of the Tour Championship.

He missed last year when he failed to get into the top 30 who qualify for the FedEx Cup finale, and knew he only needed to get back to have a chance.

“I wanted to get out of the blocks quickly, and I surely did,” Stenson said.

Jason Day, in his first tournament as the No. 1 player in the world, stayed with Stenson until one shot. Day birdied his opening three holes, but his drive on the par-4 fifth hole sailed through the trees on the right, over the fence and out-of-bounds. He made triple bogey and never really got back on track. He shot a 69 and was six behind.

“I wish I could say that I was a machine and I can hit it straight down the gut every single time, 315 yards,” Day said. “But unfortunately, as humans we’re going to make errors. … To make triple was pretty disappointing, but it’s early on in the tournament, so I can’t dwell on that.”

Rory McIlroy started slowly, finished the front nine with three straight birdies and had a 66 to join British Open champion Zach Johnson.

Jordan Spieth took the stress out of his game and rarely was out of position. He just didn’t hit it close enough for birdie chances, made three of them and shot a 68 to join a large group that included Brooks Koepka and Brandt Snedeker.

Two share lead at European Open

Benjamin Hebert of France and Bernd Wiesberger of Austria shared the lead at seven-under-par after the opening day of the European Open in Bad Griesbach, Germany.

Hebert fired eight birdies on the Bad Griesbach course and had a bogey on the seventh to finish the day at 64. Wiesberger had seven birdies and no bogeys to tie for the lead.

Two Englishmen had a share of third place at six-under. Graeme Storm shot six birdies in his opening round and Richard Bland opened his round by carding birdies in each of his first four holes.

Also at six-under were Richard Green of Australia, Darren Fichardt of South Africa and Richard Finch of England. A group of 11 golfers followed at five-under, including German veteran Bernhard Langer.