Rory McIlroy matches Tiger’s 62 at BMW Championship

Rory McIlroy got off to a hot start at the BMW Championship, threatening to shoot 59 before finishing with an eight-under 62 to tie Tiger Woods for the first-round lead.

Rory McIlroy made it look easy Thursday at the BMW Championship. Massive drives, stuffed approach shots and some long putts combined to put McIlroy on 59 watch for much of his second nine.

McIlroy settled for an 8-under round of 62 after making two bogeys on his final three holes, tying Tiger Woods for the lead after the opening round at Aronimink Golf Club.

Beginning on the 10th tee, McIlroy parred his first hole before beginning a stretch of three birdies in a row. At the par-411th, a 330-yard drive left him just 79 yards to the hole and led to his first birdie. He holed a 21-foot putt for birdie at the 12th, then made a 20-footer at 13.

McIlroy really started to heat up at the 18th. With a birdie at the par-4, he played his front-nine in 4-under.

It was just the start of a stretch that would see him birdie six holes in a row, all from within 10 feet. At the 1st, he drove the ball 321 yards then hit his approach from 87 yards to nine feet, which he converted for birdie.

Another massive drive at the 2nd left him a 72 yard approach shot and another birdie to get to 6-under thru 11.

Woods began his tournament with a round of 62 to get to 8-under and establish an early lead. McIlroy was able to tie him after stuffing his approach to the par-4 4th to three feet for his fifth birdie in a row.

McIlroy would make it six in a row at the next hole, a 170-yard par-3 where he hit his tee shot to two feet for an easy birdie.

That gave McIlroy the outright lead at 9-under. He needed to play his last four holes in just 2-under to shoot 59. His hopes were derailed, however, at the 7th when his approach came up short in a greenside bunker.

He failed to get up-and-down to save par, then made his second bogey in a row at the par-3 8th after missing the green to the left.

At the closing hole, a par-5, McIlroy bombed his tee shot 350 yards down the fairway and reached the green in two. With a 50-foot putt for eagle that would match his lowest career round on the PGA Tour, he came up just short and tapped in for birdie to finish with 62.

McIlroy’s biggest weapon on Thursday was his driver, continually hitting long tee shots down Aronimink’s fairways that left him short irons into the receptive greens.

It’s been a frustrating year for the 29-year-old McIlroy. He won his first PGA Tour event in 18 months at the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, but that’s his only win this season.

Coming off a disappointing 50th place finish at the PGA Championship, McIlroy said he is working hard with coach Michael Bannon to get back to the swing he had in past years when he was the No. 1 player in the world.

He even went so far as to rewatch video of himself from when he was 16.

He skipped The Northern Trust, the first event of the FedEx Cup playoffs, to work on the swing changes then finished 12th last week at the Dell Technologies Championship. He comes into the BMW Championship 24th in the FedEx Cup standings.

He looked as good as ever on Thursday, and the work he put two weeks ago seems to be paying off. He will look to continue where he left off at 7:22 a.m. EST on Friday.