BMW PGA Championship – round one
-6 A Rai (Eng), J Lagergren (Swe); -5 R Gerard (US), A Scott (Aus), I Elvira (Spa), L Aberg (Swe)
Selected others: -4 P Reed (US), R Fox (NZ), R MacIntrye (Sco), V Hovland (Nor), T Detry (Bel); -3 R Fisher (Eng), R McIlroy (NI), D Law (Sco), A Sullivan (Eng), E Ferguson (Sco), J Dean (Eng); -2 T Hatton (Eng), JJ Spaun (US); -1 S Lowry (Ire) -1 M Wallace (Eng); E A Fitzpatrick (Eng), M Fitzpatrick (Eng)
While Rory McIlroy sparkled and then suffered a late stumble, Aaron Rai was a model of consistency as he shot a six-under 66 to share the first-round lead with Sweden’s Joakim Lagergren at the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.
Rai, who became England’s most recent major winner earlier this season, knocked in seven birdies, with the only blemish to his card arriving on the 16th, when he found the fairway bunker off the tee and ended with a bogey five.
Lagergren, whose one and only win on the DP World Tour was back in 2018, also made a fine start with an eagle on the 12th, the highlight of his round.
Six-time major winner McIlroy had got under way in sensational fashion earlier in the day until his round unravelled on the back nine.
The Northern Irishman was five under after 10 holes and in the outright lead but some erratic driving proved costly after the turn on a course he covered in 60 in Wednesday’s pro-am.
And when McIlroy also found the water on his penultimate hole, it contributed to one of his three bogeys in the final seven – leaving him at three under, three strokes adrift of the joint-leaders.
American Ryan Gerard, Australia’s Adam Scott, Spain’s Nacho Elvira and Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg are at five under, while Patrick Reed, the only player above McIlroy in the Race to Dubai standings, is one of 12 players at four under.
Reed, who is bidding to become only the second American after Collin Morikawa to win the Race to Dubai, is in a group two shots off the lead with Open champion Ryan Fox, Norway’s Viktor Hovland and Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre, who made birdies on the 17th and 18th holes to conclude with a flourish.
However, it was a difficult day for Spain’s two-time major winner Jon Rahm, who carded a six-over 78.
Birdies proved difficult to come by as Rahm played alongside Justin Rose and Tommy Fleetwood, with none of the trio picking up a single shot on the front nine.
While the English duo were able to make five birdies between them on the back nine to finish at one over, Rahm toiled to five bogeys and a double bogey as he repeatedly found trouble off the tee.
Former US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, who outlined his reluctance to travel to Dubai for November’s season-ending DP World Tour Championship event on Wednesday, is at level par, along with his younger brother Alex.
