Keegan Bradley, the last man into the BMW Championship field, shot a six-under-par 66 to take the first-round lead Thursday at Castle Pines Golf Club in Castle Rock, Colo.
Bradley’s one-shot lead remained intact after a three-hour delay due to severe thunderstorms that forced eight players to put off the finish of their rounds. His closest competitor is Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama, who completed his final hole after the delay to finish a five-under 67.
Matsuyama won last week’s playoff opener, the FedEx St. Jude Championship, to soar into third in the FedEx Cup standings. Bradley didn’t fare as well at the St. Jude but squeaked into the field this week at No. 50 on the points list.
That didn’t seem to matter Thursday as the upcoming U.S. Ryder Cup captain posted a bogey-free round with six birdies, including a 10-footer to finish at No. 18. Because playoff events are worth four times the points of a regular-season tournament, Bradley would rocket into the top five in points with a win in the thin air of Colorado.
“Sunday afternoon was one of the toughest afternoons of my PGA Tour career,” Bradley said. “It was really brutal. It’s such a relief to be here. I just felt a lot calmer today. But I played really, really well.”
Bradley birdied three of the four par-five holes at the 8,130-yard course, the longest in PGA Tour history owing to the thin air at altitude.
“If you put the ball in the fairway, you’re going to have a lot of scoring clubs,” Bradley said. “You’ve got to really have a good grasp on your numbers with the altitude. We did a good job of that today. You’ve just got to hit as many fairways as you can.”
Tied for third at four-under 68 were Sungjae Im of South Korea, Alex Noren of Sweden, Adam Scott of Australia and Corey Conners of Canada. Xander Schauffele, Nick Dunlap and South Korea’s Si Woo Kim shot three-under 69.
Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy made a 21-foot eagle from off the green at the par-five 14th to get to three under. He was facing a 20-foot par putt at the 18th when the weather delay began. When he returned, he settled for bogey.
The three-time FedEx Cup champion dropped to two-under 70, joining a tie with Collin Morikawa, Tony Finau, J.T. Poston and Russell Henley.
World No. 1 and FedEx Cup leader Scottie Scheffler turned in a one-under 71 and was seen grabbing at his lower back during his penultimate hole. Scheffler later said he woke up sore on Thursday morning and was “laboring” but is not injured.
“I had trouble kind of loosening it up,” Scheffler said. “... On 17, I was trying to hit a high draw, and that’s a shot where I’ve really got to use a big turn, big motion. Really just felt it a little bit. But other than that, all good.”
Reigning BMW Championship and FedEx Cup winner Viktor Hovland of Norway also opened with a 71.
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