BMW Championship Round 2: Robert MacIntyre Opens a Five-Shot Lead on Scottie Scheffler

Thursday was the putter. Friday was everything else, and the result is the kind of lead that changes how a whole field plays the weekend.

Robert MacIntyre followed his opening 62 with a bogey-free 6-under 64 at Caves Valley to reach 14-under 126 and take a five-shot lead at the halfway point of the BMW Championship. Scottie Scheffler shot a bogey-free 65 and is alone in second at 9 under. Ludvig Åberg is one shot further back after a 64, and Hideki Matsuyama, also 64, sits fourth at 7 under. Tommy Fleetwood, Michael Kim and Maverick McNealy are eight back at 6 under.

Iron Man

MacIntyre set the tone immediately, knocking his approach on the 476-yard opener to about 5 feet and converting. He made three birdies on each nine and never had a real scare. If anything, he left some out there: a birdie try from inside 8 feet slipped by on the 8th, and a 5-footer on 18 did the same.

The difference from Thursday was where the strokes came from. "Yesterday the putter was on fire. Today I felt like my iron play was exceptional," MacIntyre said. He still leads the field in strokes gained putting through 36 holes, picking up 6.8 shots on the greens, per the PGA TOUR. When the flat stick and the irons both show up for the same player, five-shot leads happen.

History Says Mind the Gap

The margin is the largest 36-hole lead at the BMW Championship since Jason Day was five clear in 2015, and Day went on to win by six that year. MacIntyre, who finished runner-up at the U.S. Open in June, did not sound like a man getting ahead of himself. "It's only 36 holes gone. There's a long way to go," he said.

He is right about that, and the name in second place is the reason. Five shots is a lot against most fields. It is a little less than that against the best player in the world.

Scheffler Lurks, Quietly

Scheffler's Friday was clean rather than spectacular. He did not make a bogey, which he summed up simply: "Bogey-free is always nice." His best swing came at the 12th, where he hit a 4-iron from 221 yards to 7 feet and rolled in the birdie to get back within five. Outside of that, the good looks were scarce, and he spent much of the day doing the unglamorous work of pars.

It was his 15th consecutive round in the 60s, and it puts him in the final pairing with MacIntyre on Saturday. Nobody on the board needs a reminder of what the world No. 1 can do with a weekend.

The 64 Club

Åberg matched MacIntyre's 64 and sits 8 under, six back, after rounds of 68 and 64. Matsuyama's 64 might have been the gutsiest card of the day. He has not made a bogey through 36 holes despite feeling ill this week, per the AP. McNealy also posted 64 after an opening 70 to jump into the group at 6 under.

Fleetwood went the other way, slipping to a 69 after Thursday's bogey-free 65. He is still eight back and still in the conversation, but the gap to the lead grew from three to eight in a single day.

Rory McIlroy, who played alongside Scheffler, made a double bogey on the short 3rd and looked headed for another frustrating afternoon. Instead, he rallied with three birdies and an eagle for a 66 to get to 4 under. "I think I'm just playing my own tournament at this point," McIlroy said, which is an honest read on a man 10 shots behind.

The Race for East Lake

The real drama on Friday was further down the board. Only the top 30 in the FedExCup after Sunday go to the TOUR Championship, and with 36 holes left, Kim and Harry Hall were the only two players projected to move inside that line, per the AP.

Kim's 66 left him at 6 under, and he is now playing for the biggest week of his season. Hall shot 67 to sit at 5 under. Hall has four top-10s and has missed only three cuts in 23 starts this season, and has also been hearing from Europe's Ryder Cup captain. Hall said he has received a few texts from Luke Donald but has not been fitted for a uniform yet.

Viktor Hovland, who came in 28th, added a 68 to get to 5 under and keep himself in decent shape. Rickie Fowler slowed with a 70 but is still 3 under. Jason Day went the wrong way with a 71 and fell back to 1 under, and Xander Schauffele's 70 left him at 4 over, a long way from the number he needs.

Saturday's Question

MacIntyre has the lead, the stats and the form. Scheffler has the résumé and the final-group tee time. Åberg and Matsuyama are close enough that one hot nine changes everything. Saturday is about whether anyone can make MacIntyre feel the pressure of a lead he has not had to defend yet.

Catch up on how the week started in our Round 1 recap. Full scoring is on the official PGA TOUR leaderboard (opens in a new tab), and the TOUR's Round 2 recap (opens in a new tab) has more.

Sources: PGA TOUR (Round 2 recap and leaderboard), AP, Golf Channel, Irish Examiner, ESPN. More golf coverage on Undrafted.

Photo: PGA TOUR.