The first round of the Tour Championship had plenty of twists and turns to it. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler started the day with a two-stroke lead thanks to the tournament’s staggered scoring format but closed Thursday's action a stroke off the leaders after stellar performances from a trio of players.

Collin Morikawa shot a 9-under 61 to take a share of the lead heading into round two. He's joined by Keegan Bradley, who shot a 7-under first round, and Viktor Hovland. The three are at 10-under par to start the second round.

Scheffler opened up a five-shot lead at one point in the opening round of the Tour Championship but a brutal back-nine lost him the lead.

“I'm obviously pretty frustrated with how I played today,” Scheffler said, via Mark Schlabach. “I got off to a pretty good start, and then I had a few three-putts today, which definitely is frustrating. Then I had the bad swing there on the par-3, 15.”

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Scheffler was 3-under on the round through 10 holes before a disaster class during holes 11-15. The 27-year-old bogeyed back-to-back holes on 11 and 12, then triple-bogeyed the par-3 hole 15 after hitting his tee shot in the water, his first triple-bogey on a par-3 this season.

Scheffler is looking for his first Tour Championship win and his seventh PGA Tour win in the last two years. He was in a similar spot last year, entering the Tour Championship as the leader. He had a six-stroke lead heading into the final round, only to see it slip to a victorious Rory McIlroy.

Scottie Scheffler has some work to do if he wants to capture the Tour Championship. Playing like he did during Thursday's front-nine will go a long way.