Rory McIlroy shoots 64, part of five-way tie for lead at BMW

Rory McIlroy shook off last week's difficulties and birdied four of his final six holes to earn a share of the first-round lead at the BMW Championship on Thursday at Bellerive Country Club in St. Louis.

The six-time major champion from Northern Ireland signed for a 6-under-par 64, tied with Gary Woodland, Wyndham Clark, J.J. Spaun and Chris Gotterup at day's end.

It comes just over a week after the world number two missed the cut and finished 66th out of 68 golfers at the St Jude Championship.

"It's my style of golf course. I do well on these golf courses," McIlroy said of Bellerive's first time hosting professional golf since the 2018 PGA Championship.

"They're big, they're long. You can get away with missing some tee shots at times. Yeah, definitely a course that sets up better for me than the one we played last week."

Ryo Hisatsune of Japan and Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick were one stroke back at 5-under 65. Matt's brother Alex Fitzpatrick, Ludvig Aberg of Sweden, Jacob Bridgeman and Michael Thorbjornsen carded 4-under 66.

McIlroy brushed off his previous struggles with a bogey-free round on Thursday that really heated up once he sank a 7-foot birdie putt at the par-3 13th. He stuck his approach at No. 15 inside 5 feet to convert another birdie, he two-putted for birdie at the par-5 17th and he curled in a right-to-left 10-footer at No. 18 to join the leading group.

"As I said yesterday, I went home and I worked on a few things and at least got myself back in a frame of mind where like I felt like I'm at least back on the right path of what I'm doing with my game and with my swing," McIlroy said.

"It's certainly a work in progress. Days like this are encouraging, obviously. There's still a lot of work to be done."

Notable players who are part of a large tie at 3-under 67 are Patrick Cantlay and Justin Thomas, who entered the week Nos. 43 and 44 in the points race, respectively. They'll need a very high finish if not an outright win to advance to the Tour Championship.

World No. 1 and FedEx Cup leader Scottie Scheffler struggled to a 2-over 72 to open his week after winning the St. Jude by eight strokes on Sunday. Scheffler is tied for 44th out of 50. There is no 36-hole cut.