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BMW Championship: Rory McIlroy three shots before the lead in Chicago

Hideki Matsuyama
Hideki Matsuyama celebrates after making a monster putt on his final hole
-3 H Matsuyama (Jpn); -2 T Duncan (USA); -1 M Hughes (Can); E. H. Higgs (USA), T. Finau (USA), B. Horschel (USA), L. Griffin (USA), S. Munoz (Col.), M. Hubbard (USA), R. McIlroy (NI), A. Ancer (Mex)
Selected others:+1 D Johnson; +3 T. Woods (USA), P. Casey (Eng), J. Thomas (USA), B. DeChambeau (USA), T. Hatton (Eng)
Full ranking

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy and England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick are three shots behind leader Hideki Matsuyama after the first round of the BMW Championship.

McIlroy’s round was a mix of four birdies and four bogeys as he fought his way to a par 70 level.

Fitzpatrick picked up a double bogey on his penultimate hole to hit 70 as well.

Only three players shot under par at Olympia Fields, and Japanese Matsuyama is leading by a margin after he last pocketed a 67-foot birdie putt to card a 67.

American Tyler Duncan is second under two and Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes is third under one in Chicago.

Four-time grand winner McIlroy, who hasn’t finished in the top 10 since golf returned in June, said: “I said last week if you need someone to shoot between equal and two under, I’m your man.

“Well, I love these conditions. It’s kind of weird. The way my game feels right now, it’s just as easy for me to shoot right here as I did last week in Boston, for whatever reason.

“But that’s right golf. You really have to think about things. It’s nice to play another round of golf like that.”

New World number one Dustin Johnson is in first place while fellow American Tiger Woods, who has won 15 majors, is two more strokes behind.

The 44-year-old was a constant player after six holes, but three consecutive bogies in the middle of his lap ruined his good work and he ended up with a 73. England’s Paul Casey, who finished second in the PGA Championship, is also on three .

The tournament started on schedule despite postponements in other US sports to protest racial injustices in the wake of the Police shots of African American Jacob Blake in Wisconsin.

American golfer Cameron Champ, who has a black father and a white mother, wore one black and one white shoe. He had written “Jacob Blake BLM” on the white shoe.

The BMW Championship is the second of three events in the FedEx Cup playoffs on the US circuit that will determine the PGA Tour champion for this season.

The top 70 players on the season’s points list will take part in the BMW Championship, where the 30 players will take part in the Tour Championship at East Lake in Atlanta at the end of next month.

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