Rory McIlroy Shares BMW Championship Lead as Scottie Scheffler Stumbles

McIlroy makes flying start at Bellerive

Rory McIlroy made an encouraging start to the BMW Championship, firing a six-under 64 to move into a share of the opening-round lead at Bellerive Country Club in St Louis. The Northern Irishman produced six birdies to join Gary Woodland, Wyndham Clark, JJ Spaun and Chris Gotterup at the top of the leaderboard.

McIlroy arrived at the second FedExCup Playoff event looking to rediscover his best form after a difficult few weeks. He missed the cut at The Open and finished 66th of the 68 players who completed last week's FedEx St. Jude Championship, admitting afterwards that his game was "far away" from where he wanted it to be.

The world No 2 subsequently worked with long-time coach Michael Bannon in Florida before travelling to Bellerive. That preparation appeared to pay dividends as McIlroy combined accurate iron play with a confident performance on the greens. He holed a 15-foot birdie at the fourth, took advantage of the par-five eighth and added another birdie at the 13th before converting from five feet at the 15th.

Birdie-birdie finish lifts McIlroy into the lead

McIlroy then produced a strong finish, making birdies at his final two holes to reach six under and secure a share of the clubhouse lead. His round offered a welcome response after his recent struggles, although the four-time major champion insisted he remains a long way from considering his game completely fixed.

"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, but there's still a lot of work to be done."

Woodland had earlier established the clubhouse target with a 64, despite bogeying his final hole. He also produced one of the day's highlights with a hole-out eagle on the 11th. Spaun also dropped a shot at the last, while Clark surged into contention with five birdies in his final six holes.

Scheffler suffers nightmare opening round

While McIlroy enjoyed a fast start, defending FedExCup champion Scottie Scheffler endured a very different opening day. The world No 1 struggled to a two-over 72 after making four bogeys in his first seven holes.

Scheffler arrived at Bellerive as the clear pre-tournament favourite after dominating last week's FedEx St. Jude Championship, where he secured an eight-shot victory. Instead, he finds himself tied for 44th in the 50-man field and already eight shots behind the leaders.

Matt Fitzpatrick is one shot off the pace after a 65, while Ludvig Åberg and Alex Fitzpatrick both opened with 66s. Bob MacIntyre responded to his withdrawal last week with a two-under 68, while Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood are five shots off the lead. With three rounds remaining, McIlroy has put himself in an excellent position, but the tournament remains wide open.