First-Round Notes - 2021 BMW Championship

First-Round Notes – Thursday, August 26, 2021

 

Weather: Mostly sunny. High of 93. Wind SSE 5-10 mph. Preferred lies in closely-mown areas were utilized in round one.

 

First-Round Leaderboard

Jon Rahm             64 (-8)

Rory McIlroy        64 (-8)

Sam Burns           64 (-8)

Sergio Garcia       65 (-7)

 

Things to Know

• World No. 1 and defending BMW Championship winner Jon Rahm holds a share of the 18-hole lead for the second consecutive week
• 2012 BMW Championship winner Rory McIlroy ties his lowest score of the season (64/R4/Waste Management Phoenix Open)
• In his BMW Championship debut, Sam Burns posts a 64 for the fourth time in his last eight rounds on the PGA TOUR   
• The top 30 players in the FedExCup at the conclusion of the BMW Championship will advance to the season-ending TOUR Championship
• Current projections of players to move into top 30: Sergio Garcia, Keegan Bradley
• Current projections of players to move outside top 30: Charley Hoffman, Max Homa

 

First-Round Lead Notes

8. First-round leaders/co-leaders since 2000 at the BMW Championship to go on to win (most recent: Justin Thomas/2019)

5. First-round leaders/co-leaders to win on PGA TOUR in 2020-21 (most recent: Matt Jones/The Honda Classic)

 

Comparing the leaders (entering the week)

Category	Jon Rahm	Rory McIlroy	Sam Burns
Age	26 (11/10/1994)	32 (5/4/1989)	25 (7/23/1996)
FedExCup	2	28	12
OWGR	1	16	25
Starts at BMW Championship	4	10	0
Wins at BMW Championship	1	1	0
Top-10s at BMW Championship	3	4	0
Career PGA TOUR starts	110	202	84
Career PGA TOUR wins	6	19	1
Career PGA TOUR top-10s	53	94	13
PGA TOUR starts in 2020-21	20	19	24
PGA TOUR wins in 2020-21	1	1	1
PGA TOUR top-10s in 2020-21	13	6	7

 

Jon Rahm (T1/-8)

• World No. 1 and defending champion holds the 18-hole lead/co-lead for the second straight week on TOUR; the last player to hold at least a share of the 18-hole lead in consecutive weeks was Justin Thomas (2019 BMW Championship, TOUR Championship)

• Becomes the third defending champion to hold the 18-hole lead/co-lead this season: Justin Thomas/Sentry Tournament of Champions, Sebastian Munoz/Sanderson Farms Championship

• Six-time PGA TOUR winner, including the 2021 U.S. Open; has never successfully defended a title
• Eighth career 18-hole lead/co-lead on TOUR; 1-for-7 to date converting to victory (2018 The American Express)
• Bogey-free 64 included 28 putts for a total of 117’10” of putts
• Last four starts on the PGA TOUR: WD/the Memorial Tournament presented by Workday (led by six strokes after 54 holes and was forced to withdraw), Won/U.S. Open, T3/The Open Championship, 3/THE NORTHERN TRUST
• One career win in the FedExCup Playoffs (2020 BMW Championship)
• Leads the PGA TOUR in top-10 finishes this season with 13

 

Rory McIlroy (T1/-8)

• 2012 BMW Championship winner made seven birdies and an eagle at the par-5 16^th to offset one bogey (par-3 13^th)
• In addition to his 2012 victory, finished inside the top-10 in 2014/T8, 2015/T4 and 2018/5^th
• Needed 25 putts to sink 106’2” total feet of putts
• Since claiming his 19^th career TOUR title at the Wells Fargo Championship, has one top-10 finish (T7/U.S. Open)
• Two-time FedExCup champion has five FedExCup Playoffs titles, second only to Dustin Johnson (6)

 

Sam Burns (T1/-8)

• In his BMW Championship debut, made four consecutive birdies on Nos. 11-14 en route to his fourth round of 64 in his last eight rounds on the PGA TOUR
• Takes his 12^th lead/co-lead after any round on the PGA TOUR this season, the most of any player
• Is 0-for-1 in converting 18-hole leads/co-leads (2021 The Genesis Invitational/T3)
• Is one of four players who qualified for the BMW Championship for the first time in their careers (others: Cam Davis, K.H. Lee, Erik van Rooyen)
• Claimed his first career TOUR title in May at the Valspar Championship
• Followed a playoff loss at the World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational three weeks ago with a T21 at last week’s THE NORTHERN TRUST

 

Miscellaneous Player Notes

• Following four straight birdies on Nos. 3-6, Sergio Garcia (4^th/-7) birdied two of his last three holes to open with a 7-under 65 in his 11^th BMW Championship and first since 2017 (T12); Garcia is No. 44 in the FedExCup as he seeks a return to the TOUR Championship for the first time since 2017
• Following bogeys on two of his first six holes, Patrick Cantlay made a career-best five consecutive birdies on Nos. 12-16 en route to a back-nine 30, tying his career-low score on the back nine (three times)
• Making his fourth start in the BMW Championship, Abraham Ancer made seven birdies against one bogey en route to a 6-under 66 (T5); highlighted by his first career PGA TOUR win at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, five of his seven top-10 finishes this season have come in his last nine TOUR starts
• 2010 and 2016 BMW Championship winner Dustin Johnson (T7/-5) offset one bogey with six birdies in his 12^th BMW Championship start; comes off a runner-up finish in last year’s event at Olympia Fields Country Club
• Following last week’s victory at THE NORTHERN TRUST, FedExCup leader Tony Finau sits T7 at 5-under 67; with six birdies, a bogey and a double bogey, his only par on the inward nine came at the par-4 18^th hole
• World Golf Hall of Fame Member and 45-time PGA TOUR winner Phil Mickelson opened with a 4-under 68 (T19) in his 23^rd BMW Championship; best of two top-10 finishes is T2 (2012); began the week as the last man in the field at No. 70 in the FedExCup

 

Players on the TOUR Championship bubble

Pos.	Player	R1 Position	Projected FEC pos.
25	Sungjae Im	T7 (-5)	23
26	Patrick Reed	WD	--
27	Billy Horschel	T47 (-1)	29
28	Rory McIlroy	T1 (-8)	4
29	Charley Hoffman	T29 (-3)	31
30	Max Homa	T56 (E)	33
31	Kevin Kisner	T56 (E)	36
32	Keegan Bradley	T7 (-5)	28
33	Si Woo Kim	68th (+2)	39
34	Cameron Tringale	T63 (+1)	45
35	Marc Leishman	T29 (-3)	37

 

 Course Statistics

Toughest Hole                   Easiest Hole

R1:         Par-4 18^th (4.101)               Par-5 12^th (4.449)

 

Scoring Averages

              Front Nine           Back Nine            Total                    Cumulative

R1:         34.667                 34.551                  69.217

 

Bogey-free rounds

R1 (8): Sam Burns (64), Jon Rahm (64), Sergio Garcia (65), Daniel Berger (68), Joaquin Niemann (68), Cameron Smith (68), Stewart Cink (69), Harris English (69)