DP World Tour: BMW PGA Championship Leaderboard
Aaron Rai was alongside Joakim Lagergren at the top of a high-class leaderboard after day one of the BMW PGA Championship.
The third Rolex Series event of the season brought bumper crowds and an elite field to Wentworth Club and it was US PGA Championship winner Rai who delighted the home crowds with a 66.
The Englishman carded seven birdies and a single bogey to get to -6 where he was joined by Swede Lagergren, who recorded an eagle, five birdies and a single dropped shot.
Swede Ludvig Åberg, former Masters champion Adam Scott, in-form American Ryan Gerard and Spaniard Nacho Elvira were a shot off the lead -5, one clear of a group of 12 players including Race to Dubai Rankings leader Patrick Reed, Open Champion Ryan Fox and Åberg's fellow Ryder Cup stars Viktor Hovland and Robert MacIntyre all -4
Masters champion Rory McIlroy was then in a large group at -3 on a congested leaderboard.
Rai was part of a marquee three-ball containing McIlroy and Fox as he looks for a third Rolex Series title at an event where he has finished in the top five for the last three seasons.
"Really pleased overall," he said. "Conditions were pretty tricky. We had a lot of rain during that warm up. But by the time it started, the wind had stopped, so that helped to start really well.
"I felt like I got into the round fast and got a couple of birdies early on and continued to just play well throughout the round and keep the momentum going when I was out of position.
"So, yeah, really good. Really good start."
A winner at the 2018 Rocco Forte Sicilian Open, Lagergren lost his card in 2023 but won twice on the HotelPlanner Tour the following year to bounce straight back.
"Scored really well today so I'm happy with that," he said. "I feel like I wasn't at my best today, if that's OK to say after a minus six, but I feel like I have still work to do.
"You always want to improve, and as often in this sport, it's hard to have five hours of good shots out there. You always want to get those bad shots to be a bit better.
"I feel like the bad shots were pretty decent today, which I like. But obviously, it wasn't a hundred per cent. But it never is really."
SUMMARY
Big finishes were the order of the day for Åberg and Elvira, with the Ryder Cup star birdieing his last three holes after making a double on the 15th, while Elvira birdied four of his last five.
Australian Scott made five birdies in his first 11 holes before a bogey-birdie finish and Gerard recorded six birdies and a single bogey.
American pair Davis Bryant and Johannes Veerman, German duo Freddy Schott and Nicolai von Dellingshausen, Belgian Thomas Detry, Dane Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Frenchman Antoine Rozner and Italy's Filippo Celli completed the top ten in the group at -4.
europeantour.com
Bryan Angus (edit)
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