Justin Thomas rolled in a two-foot birdie putt at the 18th to join Xander Schauffele and Brooks Koepka atop the leaderboard of the US PGA Tour Championship on Thursday.
The top trio were tied on 10-under par, although under the "staggered start" format by which players were spotted strokes based on their position in the playoff standings Thomas needed only to card an even par 70 to land there.
World number one Koepka rattled in a 12-foot birdie putt at 18 to cap a 67 and Schauffele, who won the Tour Championship as a rookie in 2017, posted a 64.
Koepka acknowledged it was "just weird" to arrive at the first tee at East Lake in Atlanta, Georgia, already three shots off the pace. But with one round done the event was feeling more normal.
Thomas topped the standings after his victory in the BMW Championship on Sunday and therefore started the tournament at 10-under, two strokes ahead of Patrick Cantlay, three ahead of Koepka and four ahead of Patrick Reed.
Thomas hit just six of 14 fairways, but he shook off a double-bogey at the par-three 15th -- where he was in the water off the tee -- to finish strong.
"I'm fine, I'm tied for the lead," Thomas said.
"I thought I played better than I scored today. I played a lot of good golf those last five or six holes -- except for that dumb mistake on 15."
Disclaimer: No Business Standard Journalist was involved in creation of this content