• Swede shoots 64, one shot better than Adam Scott
• Tiger Woods fires 72 in pursuit of £6.2m overall FedEx prize
It may be advisable for the custodians of East Lake to have a carpenter on speed dial, just in case Henrik Stenson fails to triumph in the Tour Championship.
It has emerged that the Swede, who broke the head off his driver in a fit of temper at last weekend's BMW Championship, also smashed his locker at Conway Farms after slipping to a final round of 74 and a tie for 33rd place.
Stenson's agent confirmed has client had "frustration that manifested itself" in the locker incident, adding that the player had paid for the damage caused and "apologised to the appropriate parties." Life around Stenson has never been dull.
Here, Stenson had a solitary first-round bogey to get upset about and that could not prevent him from leading the field. Stenson birdied the last for a 64, six under par, to lie a shot better off than Adam Scott.
Stenson had stated before the FedEx Cup finale that he was playing with a painful problem in his left wrist, which was attributed to tendonitis rather than the consequences of lashing out on the course or in the locker room. There was little indication of any injury as Stenson raced to the turn in just 30 strokes. "I am still using a lot of ice on it and taking a lot of anti-inflammatories," said Stenson. "I have always been a bit of a hothead."
Scott, the Masters champion, played the closing half at East Lake in 29 shots, underlining his case for the PGA Tour's player of the year award. The complex FedEx points forecast has Stenson in first place with Scott second.
In a recurring theme, Justin Rose thumped a club into a bunker at the front of the 18th green after knifing his second shot to the par three. The subsequent bogey meant Rose slipped back to two under par but well within touching distance of the lead.
"It was just about the rub of the green," said Rose of the final hole. "There was no sand underneath the ball. Where I dug my feet in it was firm but I didn't know it was bone hard where the ball was.
"But 68 is a decent start. The field is pretty bunched. There is a lot of golf to play and I felt as if I played nicely today. I felt the best out there that I have felt on the course for a long time."
Tiger Woods's hopes of adding the $10m (£6.2m) FedEx playoff prize to an already successful year suffered an early blow. The world No1, who partnered Stenson, could manage no better than 73. This marked only the seventh round of Woods's professional career in which he failed to make a single birdie and left him second last.
Luke Donald and Dustin Johnson, playing at the front of the field, proved that professional golf need not be slow. The duo zipped round East Lake in 3hr 20min with Donald signing for level par and Johnson two shots better off.
Donald needs snookers – and the continuation of Woods's Thursday form – to claim the overall FedEX prize but his most immediate concern is the return of the kind of sinus infection he underwent surgery last year to try to cure. "I started feeling it on Saturday so I hoped it would have cleared up by now," said the Englishman, who holed out from a bunker on the 11th for the highlight of his opening round.
