Scottie Scheffler rarely misses a fairway, and his playing partner at East Lake hardly misses a putt. But on Friday, the two pros had an ‘embarrassing‘ moment which caught everyone’s attention. The battle’s on at the 2025 TOUR Championship, and it’s fierce, all thanks to Henley. The 36-year-old lit up the course in the first round, shooting a sick 9-under 61. Nobody went lower. The Peach State native was on fire. He sank three putts from over 30 feet, racking up over 200 feet of putts total. Everything was on point in that opening round for him until round two.

No, that’s not because of his performance. It was a funny little moment he shared with Scottie Scheffler on the 8th hole. After Scheffler sank his birdie putt, he turned to Henley for a fist bump… and it ended up “misfiring” a bit. Fans cracked up. Everyone was laughing after the duo made an awkward contact. Even Henley says it was “embarrassing.”

Following his second round at East Lake, Henley said of the moment, “He was just being mean to me, pretty usual. Maybe next time he’ll give me a regular fist bump. That was pretty embarrassing, though.” Henley doesn’t need to be embarrassed, however. After all, the world No.1 has often had fun moments with his fellow pros.

After witnessing Scheffler’s dominating win at the 2025 CJ Cup Byron Nelson, Si Woo Kim said he felt “so poor… like rubbish” compared to Scheffler’s greatness. In contrast, when asked about being paired with Si Woo Kim in round 3 of the 2025 PGA Championship on a Golf on CBS Instagram post, Scheffler cracked a joke: “Oh, it’s Si Woo? I didn’t even look. Yeah, I didn’t look” – a playful jab implying he wasn’t super excited about the pairing.

So, such Scottie Scheffler moments are pretty common.

On the other hand, and despite this particular “embarrassing” moment, Henley and Scheffler had a solid day. Russell Henley wrapped up his round with back-to-back birdies for a 66, putting him tied for the lead at 13-under 127. On the other hand, Scheffler hit a wedge to within a foot on the finishing hole for a 69. Not his most polished round, but he kept his streak of 19 straight rounds under par alive. He’s trailing by five shots.

However, even though Scheffler one-upped him this round, the first round belonged to Russell Henley, thanks to a funny statement by him.

Russell Henley quips about Scottie Scheffler and the TOUR Championship

Russell Henley surged to the top of the leaderboard in the 2025 TOUR Championship’s opening round with a standout 9-under 61, putting him two shots clear of Scottie Scheffler. A notable change in the final leg of the Tour playoffs this year is that all players begin the tournament on equal terms, departing from the previous format where the FedEx Cup leader held a stroke advantage.

Instead of starting a stroke format, the TOUR Championship is currently contested as a 72-hole stroke-play competition with all players starting at even par. The winner will be determined by the best score over the four rounds, crowning the FedExCup champion. Henley joked about the new format in a Sky Sports interview, saying, “It’s better than having to give Scottie shots!” Despite his competitive spirit against Scheffler, Henley was particularly effective on the greens, totaling 207 feet of putts in his round.

Henley has been among the most consistent performers on the PGA Tour this season. Only Scottie Scheffler has recorded more top-10 finishes. Still, following the round, Henley emphasized the importance of consistency in his play, saying, “Yeah, I mean that’s kind of always been my goal is to see if I can get consistent.” He expressed his aspiration to play well across the many tournaments on the schedule. “We play a lot of tournaments and I want to play well in all of them,” he commented.