Rory McIlroy shook off last week’s difficulties and birdied four of his final six holes to earn a share of the first-round lead at the BMW Championship on Thursday at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis.
The six-time major champion from Northern Ireland signed for a 6-under-par 64, tied with Gary Woodland, Wyndham Clark, J.J. Spaun and Chris Gotterup at day’s end.
“It’s my style of golf course. I do well on these golf courses,” McIlroy said of Bellerive’s first time hosting professional golf since the 2018 PGA Championship. “They’re big, they’re long. You can get away with missing some tee shots at times. Yeah, definitely a course that sets up better for me than the one we played last week.”
Ryo Hisatsune of Japan and Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick were one stroke back at 5-under 65. Matt’s brother Alex Fitzpatrick, Ludvig Aberg of Sweden, Jacob Bridgeman and Michael Thorbjornsen carded 4-under 66.
The top 50 players in the points standings following the FedEx St. Jude Championship qualified for the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs. McIlroy’s position was never in doubt as he began the playoffs in 12th, but he struggled mightily at the St. Jude and finished 8 over par, 66th out of 68 golfers.
He brushed that off with a bogey-free round Thursday that really heated up once he sank a 7-foot birdie putt at the par-3 13th. He stuck his approach at No. 15 inside 5 feet to convert another birdie, he two-putted for birdie at the par-5 17th and he curled in a right-to-left 10-footer at No. 18 to join the leading group.
“As I said yesterday, I went home and I worked on a few things and at least got myself back in a frame of mind where like I felt like I’m at least back on the right path of what I’m doing with my game and with my swing,” McIlroy said. “It’s certainly a work in progress. Days like this are encouraging, obviously. There’s still a lot of work to be done.”
Woodland is in the opposite position as McIlroy. At No. 31 in the standings to start this week, he has everything to play for, as only the top 30 after Sunday qualify for the season-ending Tour Championship next week.
After he made four birdies on the front nine, Woodland’s highlight was a hole-out eagle at the par-4 11th. He moved to 7 under at No. 17 but gave that stroke back with his only bogey of the day at No. 18.
“It was a sand wedge,” Woodland said of his eagle. “I had 102 yards, we were trying to hit is 105. I probably flew it one or two past where I wanted to, but it was nice to spin back there in the hole.”
Woodland added that St. Louis is 3 1/2 hours from his home area of Topeka, Kansas, “which is as close, 18 years on tour, this is as close as I’ll ever get to home. So this is special.”
Clark also posted a bogey-free round similar to McIlroy’s, as the U.S. Open champion birdied five of the final six holes. Spaun had seven birdies through 17 holes early in the day before a closing bogey, and Gotterup joined the group as play wrapped up after making three birdies on each side.
Notable players who are part of a large tie at 3-under 67 are Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas, who entered the week Nos. 43 and 44 in the points race, respectively. They’ll need a very high finish if not an outright win to advance to the Tour Championship.
“For someone who is really hard on themself and is pissed off that I’m even in this spot, and I feel like I should be in a lot better spot, I think I would even give myself some grace and take a lot of pride in that,” said Thomas, who had a late start to his season after recovering from back surgery. “Because it’s really hard to make it to Atlanta. It’s always been hard, but I feel like it’s even harder. And I missed some events that I play really, really well over the course of my career.”
World No. 1 and FedEx Cup leader Scottie Scheffler struggled to a 2-over 72 to open his week after winning the St. Jude by eight strokes on Sunday. Scheffler is tied for 44th out of 50. There is no 36-hole cut.
–Field Level Media
