A disastrous triple bogey derailed a blistering start from Jason Day at the Tour Championship, leaving the world No.1 chasing a red-hot Henrik Stenson after round one.
Day fired an opening round one-under-69 to sit in a tie for 11th, six back of Stenson's impressive seven-under-63.
In his first round since becoming the world's best golfer, Day came out on fire, making birdies on the opening three holes at East Lake Golf Club as he chases the Tour Championship and FedEx Cup double.
But after barely missing a fourth birdie in four holes, Day's round unravelled when his tee shot on the fifth sailed well right out of bounds over a fence.
Forced to re-tee Day missed the green on the right in four, chipped on for five but missed a 10-foot putt to card a triple-bogey seven, wiping out his earlier blitz.
A birdie on the eighth hole returned the 27-year-old under par and another birdie came on the par-five 15th.
But he gave a shot back on 16 and will have to find some birdies in round two to get back on track to have a chance at the $US10million FedEx Cup bonus and a fifth win in seven starts.
Stenson, who started the tournament fourth on the points list, will win the season-long bonus if he wins the tournament regardless of top-seed Day's finish.
He had everyone on "59 watch" by racing to eight-under through 12 holes but then made four straight pars and a 17th hole bogey to cool his heels.
He still leads England's Paul Casey (65) by two while former world No.1 Rory McIlroy moved into a tie for third with British Open winner Zach Johnson at four-under.
Steven Bowditch, in his first appearance at the Tour Championship, produced an impressive 68 to be tied fifth.
Bowditch traded two birdies and two bogeys through his opening 14 holes before making back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16 to shoot right into the mix.
"It's tough out there. There's not much room for error. I guess that's what you get when you get to the last round of the playoffs," Bowditch said.
"Some of the guys out there are playing really well, but par's actually a pretty good score. Not being many par-fives there's not a lot of opportunities so when you get them you got to take them."
South African Louis Oosthuizen withdrew after 13 holes leaving the field at just 28 players while American Jim Furyk did not start.
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