Rory McIlroy moves six-under to enter five-way tie for lead at BMW Championship

[p]It was a welcome return to form for second-ranked [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/mcilroy-rory/djwanksN/"]McIlroy[/a], who admitted he felt "lost" in a 66th-place finish at the St. Jude Championship in Memphis last week - his first start since he finished tied for 40th in the Open Championship.[/p][p]The six-time major champion was tied for the lead Thursday at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis, Missouri, with a trio of US Open winners - [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/woodland-gary/lQRqur2j/"]Gary Woodland[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/clark-wyndham/x4NXN7qb/"]Wyndham Clark[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/spaun-j-j/6oUJlkde/"]JJ Spaun[/a] - and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/gotterup-christopher/nVwVk9Kf/"]Chris Gotterup[/a].[/p][p][b]World number one [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/scheffler-scottie/bXfIuBYu/"]Scottie Scheffler[/a], who was at his imperious best on the way to victory in Memphis last week, was meanwhile far from the logjam at the top.[/b][/p][p]Scheffler hit just six of 14 fairways and 11 of 18 greens in regulation on the way to a two-over par 72 that featured five bogeys and left him tied for 44th - just one stroke better than the last-placed trio in the field of 50.[/p][p]Northern Ireland's McIlroy, who claimed a second straight Masters title back in April, picked up two birdies on the front nine and four coming home, including back-to-back birdies at 17 and 18.[/p][p][b]"It's my style of golf course. I do well on these golf courses, they're big, they're long. You can get away with missing some tee shots at times,"[/b] said McIlroy, whose birdies included a 10-footer at the par-five eighth after he recovered from a wild tee shot to the left.[/p][embed guid="80692ef2-f3ae-4288-9096-c2b023e5f8d4" url="https://x.com/PGATOUR/status/2090560911228506353" social-type="twitter" /][p]A pinpoint tee shot at the par-three 13th left him a seven-footer for birdie, and he took advantage of a big drive at 15 with a four-foot birdie putt.[/p][p]He reached the green in two at the par-five 17th and comfortably two-putted before rolling in a nine-footer at 18 for a final flourish.[/p][p]McIlroy said work since last week had him feeling he was "at least back on the right path" with his game and his swing.[/p][p][b]"It's certainly a work in progress. Days like this are encouraging, obviously. There's still a lot of work to be done."[/b][/p][p]Woodland had set an early target with his six-under effort highlighted by an eagle at the 11th, where he holed out from 99 yards out in the fairway.[/p][h2]Eagle bonus[/h2][p][b]"I was just trying to get it past the hole," [/b]he said. [b]"It's a little bit elevated so we couldn't see it go in. I knew I hit it nice, but when you see the crowd jump up, that was definitely a bonus."[/b][/p][p]Woodland, the 2019 US Open champion, was seven-under after a birdie at 17 but gave a stroke back after finding a greenside bunker at 18.[/p][p]Spaun, the 2025 US Open winner, also reached seven-under, moving into the solo lead with his seventh birdie of the day at 17. But he was in the right rough off the tee at 18 on the way to a bogey.[/p][embed guid="10200a6e-6f46-4e44-8a31-c85359cf6f9b" url="https://x.com/BMWchamps/status/2090550398163501353" social-type="twitter" /][p]Clark, who won his second US Open title in June, joined the group on six-under with five of his six birdies on the back nine, including three in a row to finish.[/p][p]He launched the run with a 38-foot birdie putt at 16, two-putted for birdie at 17 and drilled a six-footer at the last.[/p][p]Gotterup had three birdies on each side to complete the leading quintet, who were one stroke clear of Japan's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/hisatsune-ryo/bcC14WvA/"]Ryo Hisatsune[/a] and England's [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fitzpatrick-matthew/6whOHmtf/"]Matt Fitzpatrick[/a].[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/fitzpatrick-alex/GYIyObZk/"]Alex Fitzpatrick[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/aberg-ludvig/67ZVNhdN/"]Ludvig Aberg[/a], [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/thorbjornsen-michael/l4vvpI4A/"]Michael Thorbjornsen[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/bridgeman-jacob/xdp19XIg/"]Jacob Bridgeman[/a] were two off the lead on four-under.[/p]