BMW Championship Round 1: Robert MacIntyre Birdies the Last Six for a 62

Robert MacIntyre walked off the 12th green at Caves Valley on Thursday having just given a shot back. Six holes later, he owned the BMW Championship.

The Scot birdied his final six holes to shoot 8-under 62 and take a three-shot lead after the first round of the second FedExCup Playoffs event. Tommy Fleetwood is alone in second after a bogey-free 65. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler shot 66 and sits third, four back. Viktor Hovland, Ben Griffin and Rickie Fowler are tied for fourth at 3 under, and a group at 2 under includes Jason Day, Sam Burns, Ludvig Åberg, Harry Hall and Michael Kim.

Six Straight to Close

MacIntyre's card was ordinary for 12 holes. He birdied the 11th, bogeyed the 12th and looked like just another name in the pack. Then the putter caught fire. He started the run with a putt from more than 60 feet, followed it with a 40-footer, and kept pouring them in. The first five birdies of the streak all came from 11 feet or longer, per the AP, before he stuffed his approach on 18 inside 5 feet and tapped in the last one.

That is seven birdies over his final eight holes, and it matched his career-low round on the PGA TOUR. He also shot 62 at the 2024 Travelers Championship. MacIntyre called the closing stretch "as good as I've ever putted in a stretch of holes," and it is hard to argue with him. He came into the week 20th in the FedExCup standings, which means a trip to East Lake was already likely. Now he is playing for something much bigger.

Weather Changed the Day

A storm with lightning and heavy rain stopped play for more than two hours in the middle of the afternoon. Only 13 players had finished when the horn sounded. What came back after the delay was a different golf course: softer, slower and much more willing to give up birdies to anyone hitting fairways.

The renovated Caves Valley, a par 70 this week, had looked like a grind in the morning, and Hovland's 67 was the clubhouse lead at the stoppage. MacIntyre cashed in hardest after the restart, resuming his round by rolling in a 7-footer for birdie.

Fleetwood Keeps Knocking

If there is a player on TOUR who has earned some good luck, it is Fleetwood. He went bogey-free on Thursday, one of only two players in the field to do it, with birdies at the 3rd, 7th, 11th, 12th and 18th. He also led the field in strokes gained around the green.

A week ago at the FedEx St. Jude Championship, Fleetwood led by two with three holes to play and did not win. Earlier this summer at the Travelers, a closing three-putt cost him another chance. He has 161 PGA TOUR starts without a victory, along with 29 top-fives, the most by any active winless player, according to the PGA TOUR. The 65 is a good start. He has had plenty of those.

Scheffler Does Scheffler Things

Scheffler's round was a tale of three parts. He birdied three of his first four holes, wobbled with bogeys at the 9th and 10th, then birdied three of his last four. The 17th was its own adventure: a miss near the grandstands left his ball plugged, and after two drops he still saved par. On 18 he curled in a putt of roughly 26 feet from just off the fringe to finish at 4 under.

His own review was blunt. "I had a great start and a great finish. In between was a little bit 'meh,'" Scheffler said, per the AP. The world No. 1 also extended his run to 14 straight rounds in the 60s, per the PGA TOUR. Four back of the lead, with 54 holes to play, is about as comfortable as a chasing position gets.

The Bubble Boys

This is a 50-player, no-cut event, and only the top 30 in the FedExCup after Sunday advance to the TOUR Championship at East Lake.

Hovland came in 28th in the standings, right on the line, and responded with a 67 built on his irons. He led the field in strokes gained approach after settling on a new swing feel with coach Grant Waite earlier in the week. The Norwegian joked that he probably has 72 swing feels right now, but one of them clearly worked. Kim started the day 42nd and was projected to move just inside the top 30 after his 68, per the AP. Fowler, who barely snuck into the top 50 to get here, is five off the lead and very much alive. Day shot 68 and probably needs a top-10 week to get to Atlanta.

The other side of the bubble was ugly. Xander Schauffele, 43rd in the standings, made four bogeys in a six-hole stretch and closed with a double for a 74. He has played in every TOUR Championship since he won it as a rookie in 2017, and that streak is suddenly in danger. Rory McIlroy opened with three bogeys in his first six holes and needed to scramble for an even-par 70. McIlroy was not hiding from it, calling the round "Awful."

What Thursday Means

MacIntyre's 62 is a big number to chase, but it is one round, and his own read was that the next couple of days will not be as easy. Fleetwood is three back and hungry. Scheffler is four back and Scheffler. Friday decides who gets comfortable.

Full scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's Round 1 recap (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 1 recap, leaderboard and player stories), AP, CBS Sports, ESPN. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.