BMW Championship – First Round Leaderboard
-5 R McIlroy (NI), B Harman (US); -4 M Fitzpatrick (Eng), S Thigala (US), C Kirk (US), W Clarke (US), S Scheffler (US), R Fowler (US)
Selected: -3 C Morikawa (US), -2 J Spieth (US), P Cantley (US), J Rahm (Spa); Level J Rose (Eng), T Fleetwood (Eng), T Hatton (Eng)
World number two Rory McIlroy and Open champion Brian Herman both produced dramatic birdie chip shots on the 17th hole to share the lead after the first round of the BMW Championship in Chicago.
He shot a five-under 65 to move one clear of England’s Matt Fitzpatrick and world number one Scotty Scheffler, who are among the six players on four-under.
The field comprises the top 50 in the PGA Tour’s FedEx Cup rankings.
The top 30 qualify for next week’s Tour Championship finals in Atlanta.
Northern Ireland’s McIlroy, who won his third Tour Championship last year, hit a shot from the left side of the fairway that bounced off a greenside bunker and then chipped 40 feet behind the green. .
“I got lucky, got through the bunker,” he said. “I definitely wasn’t expecting to make three when the tee shot was in the air. It was nice to make it. It was a great bonus.”
Moments later, Harman holed a birdie chip from 32 feet on the same hole to take a share of the lead. He birdied a 42-foot birdie putt on the par-three 16th.
“When I missed, I was a little lucky to get it back in the game,” Herman said. “I chipped in a couple of times, made some putts, played a pretty solid round.”
Two-time defending champion Patrick Cantley opened with a 68 and leads Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm by three paces.
Two-time defending champion Patrick Cantley is three shots off the lead.
