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The first round of the final PGA Tour regular-season event is nearly in the books, and an unsurprising leader emerged at the Wyndham Championship on Thursday. Russell Henley shot an 8-under 62, and leads after play was suspended because of darkness following a lengthy weather delay. A win this week for Henley would cap what has been a stellar 2020-21 campaign for him, but he's joined by a cast of intriguing contenders for this week's trophy.

He's also joined by several players fighting for their position in the top 125 of the FedEx Cup standings and a spot in next week's Northern Trust, the first FedEx Cup Playoffs event. We'll take a look at a few of those as well as a deep dive on Henley's round and what's at stake for him as he tries to go wire to wire at Sedgefield Country Club.

1. Russell Henley (-8): This should not be a big shock. Henley has had a nice year and came into this week ranked No. 4 of anyone in this field in terms of strokes gained from tee to green since June 1. He played in the final pairing at the U.S. Open and has three top 20s in his last four starts. When flushers like him find over two strokes in a given round with the putter, this is the result. Henley was nearly perfect in Round 1. He didn't make a bogey and played his last 14 holes in 8 under. If they'd played the other 54 holes of the tournament Thursday, he probably would have won. Instead, he'll go into Friday leaning on some strong ball-striking (second in the field from tee to green in Round 1) and as the heavy 9/2 favorite to win for the first time since 2017.

"My goal at the start of the year is to make the Tour Championship and win, and I haven't done either one of those yet, but going to keep trying my best," Henley said. "I've had a couple tournaments slip away from me a little bit that I feel like ... I should be closer to maybe 30 in the FedEx Cup now based on my year and how I played, but that's golf and it's just hard and everybody's good, and I'm just trying to keep my head down and just play well for me."

Rick Gehman and Kyle Porter break down and react to Thursday's first-round action at the Wyndham Championship. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

T2. Sung Kang, Ted Potter Jr., Michael Thompson, Chris Kirk, Hudson Swafford, Adam Hadwin, Scott Piercy (-6): Piercy is maybe the player who needed this start the most. He started at 126th in the FedEx Cup standings -- and could lose his PGA Tour card if he stays there -- but would be 91st if play ended right now. That would not only be good for next week but go a long way toward getting into the top 70 that advance to the BMW Championship in the second week of the playoffs. Thompson is in a similar boat, although his PGA Tour card for next year is secure because of a win in 2020.

T9. Andrew Landy, Nick Taylor, Kevin Kisner, Jhonattan Vegas, Erik van Rooyen, Michael Gligic, Tyler McCumber, Denny McCarthy, Webb Simpson, Brian Stuard (-5): Simpson is the biggest name here, and he has the second-shortest odds behind Henley. The reason for that is because of his historical success here. Nobody has been better at this event over the last decade. Simpson has a lot at stake this weekend, too. He's on the edge right now when it comes to the U.S. Ryder Cup team (currently No. 13 in the standings) and could pretty much assure himself a spot with a win on Sunday. That would be a nice bonus to what could be his eighth PGA Tour win.

T19. Adam Scott, Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood (-4): Scott started the week ranked just inside the top 125, and after Round 1 he's projected at No. 114, which would easily push him into the playoffs. There's work to do, but he's looking pretty good right now. Fleetwood and Rose both moved up in the standings but are both still outside the top 125.

"Obviously the season hasn't gone how I wanted, and I feel like I'm kind of playing with house money," Scott said. "I mean, I'm not really thinking about it. I'm more interested in getting my game into the shape I feel it should be, and it's getting closer. I would like to play well this week and get a chance to play next week and keep getting my game into place. It's hard to improve your game when you don't have a chance to play, so at the moment my goal is to just keep playing week after week."

T89. Hideki Matsuyama (-1): Matsuyama hit it well, especially coming out of the mid-round weather delay, but he lost over four strokes (!!) on and around the greens Thursday. Still, I expect him to make a pretty big move over the next 36 holes and ball-strike his way up the leaderboard. If putts fall like they did Sunday in Memphis, he can still absolutely contend. He's an intriguing play at 50-1 right now.