:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/6IQSZ6SYGSF4OXJHRBDXV33ZXE.jpg)
Keegan Bradley set the early pace at the second leg of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, shooting a 7-under-par 64 to grab the first-round lead at the BMW Championship on Thursday at Wilmington (Del.) Country Club.
Bradley leads Australia’s Adam Scott (65) by one shot, and Justin Thomas, Harold Varner III and Shane Lowry (66) by two.
The top 70 players in the FedEx Cup standings qualified for the BMW, and only the top 30 in points after this event will reach next week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta.
A massive knot at 3-under 68 featured Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, world number one Scottie Scheffler, reigning FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay and Jordan Spieth.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/TNOFXOGX5RA2POK5UFVXAE7IXI.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/KEZ5XYH7ORVA6XW75HMU4EXWSU.jpg)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/KTB4N62MGZFM7GWZ23527PKUF4.jpg)
:quality(70):focal(1761x128:1771x138)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/PSUCKBHXCEMWFL6NGZHKSJU5TU.jpg)
McIlroy challenged Bradley’s lead, making six birdies and no bogeys through 14 holes, before his round was hampered by a triple-bogey 6 at the par-3 15th. He found water left of the green with his tee shot, took a drop and left his third shot just short of the green. After missing bogey, his 3 1/2-foot putt for double bogey skidded past the right edge.
“I played much better today than I did last week, so that’s -- I have to take the positives,” McIlroy said. “I still played a decent round of golf. 3 under out there this afternoon was pretty good. I’ve just got to reset tonight and forget about that swing on 15 and go again tomorrow.”
Among other notables, last week’s winner, Will Zalatoris, shot a one-under 70 and Spanish star Jon Rahm opened with a 2-over 73. There will be no 36-hole cut.He wanted a quick start, and Shane Lowry got it. An audacious 56-feet putt for eagle on the 14th hole may have provided the standout moment of his opening round of the BMW Championship at Wilmington Country Club in Delaware, but when all was said and done it all amounted to an opening round 66, five-under-par, that propelled the Offaly man straight into contention in the second of three FedEx Cup playoffs on the PGA Tour.
“Most of the summer, I’ve been struggling to get off to good starts in tournaments and I’ve been playing my way back into them,” said Lowry after his fast start, “but I’ve been grinding all week to do that and it was nice to get myself in the tournament pretty quickly. Hopefully I can keep playing the golf I am and give myself a chance this weekend.”
In the 68-man field and with only 30 progressing on to next week’s Tour Championship in Atlanta where the winner will walk away $18 million richer, Lowry – who came into this event in 37th – made an immediate impact in a round of an eagle, four birdies and a lone bogey which came at the 18th. “A smelly finish,” is how Lowry described it.
The highlight though came at the Par 5 14th where Lowry hit an approach of 250 yards to find the green and, then, brilliantly worked out the contours to sink that 56-footer for eagle. “I like putting on greens with a lot of slope in them because you kind of have to be a lot more instinctive and kind of putt with a bit more feel. It was just one of those where you just get it to the top of the hill and hopefully the momentum takes it down,” said Lowry of the putt that meandered its way to the cup.
Fully aware that he needs a really good finish, Lowry said of his aim to make it to the Tour Championship for the first time in his career: “I’d love to get to East Lake, but I also want to get to East Lake with a chance to kind of do something special. I need to do something very good this week, so I need a really good finish this week, and hopefully that (66) will put me not too far off the leader going into next week, and then you never know what could happen.”
Lowry was playing alongside Séamus Power, who responded from a double-bogey six on the 11th to claim three birdies on the finish home in signing for a level-par 71, while Rory McIlroy opened strongly and was four-under through nine holes of his opening round.
Former US PGA champion Keegan Bradley claimed the clubhouse lead with a superb opening round of seven-under-par 64.
On the DP World Tour, South African Louis de Jager opened with a 64, eight-under-par, to claim the first round lead in the Czech Masters in Prague where a trio of Irish players – David Carey, Gavin Moynihan and Cormac Sharvin – signed for 71s to lie in tied-55th.
Scores from the PGA Tour BMW Championship
-7 Keegan Bradley (USA) 64
-6 Adam Scott (Australia) 65
-5 Shane Lowry (Republic of Ireland) 66 Justin Thomas (USA) 66 Harold Varner III (USA) 66
-4 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (South Africa) 67 Tyrrell Hatton (England) 67 Russell Henley (USA) 67 Collin Morikawa (USA) 67 Chez Reavie (USA) 67 Xander Schauffele (USA) 67 Cameron Young (USA) 67
-3 Patrick Cantlay (USA) 68 Corey Conners (Canada) 68 Emiliano Grillo (Argentina) 68 Kyoung-Hoon Lee (Korea Republic) 68 Marc Leishman (Australia) 68 Denny McCarthy (USA) 68 Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland) 68 Scottie Scheffler (USA) 68 J.J. Spaun (USA) 68 Jordan Spieth (USA) 68 Scott Stallings (USA) 68
-2 Sam Burns (USA) 69 Cameron Davis (Australia) 69 Matthew Fitzpatrick (England) 69 Adam Hadwin (Canada) 69 Billy Horschel (USA) 69 Matt Kuchar (USA) 69 Troy Merritt (USA) 69 Joaquin Niemann (Chile) 69 Alex Smalley (USA) 69 Aaron Wise (USA) 69
-1 Lucas Herbert (Australia) 70 Tom Hoge (USA) 70 Sungjae Im (Korea Republic) 70 Chris Kirk (USA) 70 Hideki Matsuyama (Japan) 70 Maverick McNealy (USA) 70 Sebastian Munoz (Colombia) 70 Will Zalatoris (USA) 70
0 Joohyung Kim (Korea Republic) 71 Kevin Kisner (USA) 71 Kurt Kitayama (USA) 71 Trey Mullinax (USA) 71 Taylor Pendrith (Canada) 71 Séamus Power (Republic of Ireland) 71
1 Brian Harman (USA) 72 Max Homa (USA) 72 Alex Noren (Sweden) 72 J.T. Poston (USA) 72 Sepp Straka (Austria) 72 Sahith Theegala (USA) 72 Cameron Tringale (USA) 72
2 Viktor Hovland (Norway) 73 Taylor Moore (USA) 73 Andrew Putnam (USA) 73 Jon Rahm (Spain) 73
3 Keith Mitchell (USA) 74 Mito Pereira (Chile) 74
4 Lucas Glover (USA) 75 Mackenzie Hughes (Canada) 75
5 Brendan Steele (USA) 76
6 Wyndham Clark (USA) 77 Tony Finau (USA) 77 Davis Riley (USA) 77
7 Si Woo Kim (Korea Republic) 78 Luke List (USA) 78
:quality(70)/s3.amazonaws.com/arc-authors/irishtimes/710e355a-3012-437a-904c-5afabdb28c99.png)
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)