Robert MacIntyre builds lead at BMW Championship, Rory McIlroy shows improvement

Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre will take a five-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler into the weekend at the BMW Championship after firing a bogey-free 64 on Friday in Owings Mills.

MacIntyre’s six-under round followed a sterling 62 to open the second leg of the FedEx Cup playoffs at Caves Valley Golf Club. Now at 14-under 126, MacIntyre is halfway home to his third PGA Tour victory after capturing the Canadian and Scottish Opens last year.

Rory McIlroy improved by four shots from Thursday’s round, his 66 lifting him to four under.

He overcame an early double bogey with three straight birdies and an eagle at the par-5 16th, where his second shot settled inside 8 feet of the pin.

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“I think I’m just playing my own tournament at this point,” McIlroy said. “I just want to try to play a good weekend and feel a little bit better about my game going into the Tour Championship.”

Despite his lead, MacIntyre didn’t appear to be feeling the pressure after Friday’s round.

“It’s only 36 holes gone, there’s a long way to go. I’m comfortable with who I am. I’m comfortable with the team around me, and I’m comfortable on this golf course. Just go and play golf.”

Scottie Scheffler reacts to his putt on the 8th green during the second round of the BMW Championship. Photograph: Kevin C Cox/Getty Images

Scheffler made five birdies and no bogeys in his round of 65, capped with a difficult two-putt par from 73 feet on the 18th.

“A lot of slope,” Scheffler said of the situation. “It was one of those putts, the higher up I got it towards the fringe, the more it was going to break, so I didn’t know if I was going to need to chip it to get it close or not and decided to kind (of) accept maybe a longer putt for par, and did a really good job of getting a nice lag in there close to the hole.”

Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama are third and fourth, on eight and seven under respectively, after both shooting 64 in the second round.

Maverick McNealy joined the 64 brigade and moved to six under overall, tied with Michael Kim and Tommy Fleetwood for fifth.

Only the top 30 players in the FedEx Cup standings at the end of the tournament will advance to next week’s Tour Championship. Once they’re there, everyone will start at even par, as the tour eliminated the controversial “starting strokes” format.