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Rahm played his final four holes at 3 under and finished
bogey-free, while Thomas recovered from an errant tee shot on
No. 18 to finish off with a string of three birdies.
They lead Harold Varner III by three shots. Behind Varner is a
six-way tie at 4 under that includes Australian veteran Adam
Scott.
Rahm, the world No. 1, and Thomas, ranked No. 5, are off to a
hot start at the first leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs. Only 125
players qualified for the field based on points accrued during
the regular season.
Their low scores came at the end of a day marked by
unpredictable winds.
"It's extremely difficult," Rahm said. "The fact that me and
Justin shot a low score like that, it shows it's possible, but
we both play really, really good golf. ... If the wind stays up
like this, let's not expect everybody or all of us to be
shooting 8-under every single day because that's just not going
to happen. Scores are out there. I think we just showed it.
That's mainly due to the fact of the softness of the greens."
Rahm strung together three birdies twice during his round: at
Nos. 6-8 and again at Nos. 15-17 and finished with eight.
Despite positive COVID-19 tests knocking him out of two separate
events, Rahm is looking to continue a stellar season with the
U.S. Open victory as its cornerstone.
Thomas' tee shot on the final hole hooked far left and landed up
on a hill to the outside of the cart path. But he played an
outstanding second shot from 188 yards away, stopping the ball 3
feet from the pin to set up his ninth and final birdie of the
day.
Thomas credited a switch back to a former putter he hadn't used
since before the Scottish Open and Open Championship.
"I was like, why am I not using this thing?" Thomas said. "I've
had a lot of success. It's not like I'm making a lot of putts
with what I have. If you're putting well, any of us can go out
and putt with anything. I don't know, it kind of hit me."
Varner's 66 featured seven birdies and two bogeys and was the
low score on the board for much of the day. Kevin Na nearly
matched the score after converting an eagle at No. 6, but he
finished his round with a bogey on No. 9 and joined the tie at
4-under 67 instead.
Bryson DeChambeau had a wild afternoon, making five bogeys, two
double bogeys, nine birdies and just two pars - adding up to an
even-par 71. It was the fourth round the PGA Tour had on record
in which a golfer made two pars or fewer and still finished at
even or under par.
DeChambeau's score fluctuated all day so that he was never lower
than 1 under par and never higher than 2 over.
Defending champion Dustin Johnson, the three-time winner at the
Northern Trust, shot a 1-under 70. FedEx Cup points leader
Collin Morikawa turned in a 3-over 74.
--Field Level Media
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