OWINGS MILLS, Md. — Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy were unquestionably the feature attraction on Thursday during the first round of the 2025 BMW Championship as droves of fans followed the two best players in the world around Caves Valley Golf Club. However, as they walked off the 18th green late in the afternoon, Scheffler was (temporarily) atop of the leaderboard with a 4-under 66 — bookending his round with runs of three birdies in four holes — while McIlroy clawed his way to an even-par 70 after a rough start.
Scheffler was eventually passed in the evening Robert MacIntyre, who birdied his final six holes of the day to post an 8-under 62, holding a three-shot lead on the field at the start of the second FedEx Cup Playoffs event. Tommy Fleetwood, who suffered immense heartbreak just last week at the St. Jude Championship, sits between MacIntyre and Scheffler after posting a 65.
The world’s best player has made a career out of steadily walking down leads, and Thursday was yet another rock-solid round of golf that put Scheffler in contention maintaining firm hold of his tournament-favorite status. The Texan birdied Nos. 1, 2 and 4 to start his day, surging early in the first round and ensuring the rest of field was aware he was present and competing.
Scheffler hit a brief rough patch at the turn, bogeying Nos. 9 and 10 with what he called “mental mistakes” before settling in with four straight pars before the horn blew to stop play as a storm rolled through the Baltimore area. After the delay, Scheffler took advantage of a much softer course, again going on a hot streak with birdies on Nos. 15, 16 and 18.
He noted after the round how he was able to benefit from the changing conditions: “If you look at the pin on 16, the par-5, with how firm it was earlier, it can be a tough pin to get to. As well as the pin on 15 — there’s a lot of slope there, and I hit a cut and it landed right of the pin and it stays on the green. Whereas, if I played that hole before the rain delay, it may have landed there and kicked off into the first cut, maybe even the rough. Golf course definitely got a bit easier but did a good job of taking advantage of the holes I had left.”
Perhaps as crucial as those birdies was his up-and-down on the long par-3 17th after pulling his shot into the grandstands. Scheffler’s ball hit the structure and embedded in the wet ground, which allowed him to get a drop; eventually, he placed his ball and created a terrific lie for his chip back down the hill towards the water. With that break, he was able to get up-and-down and keep his round on track on the difficult closing stretch at Caves Valley. While he escaped with a par, Scheffler clearly isn’t a huge fan of the 238-yard 17th.
“Yeah, I hit a shot into the grandstands. It’s a pretty tough hole — 240 [yards] into the wind with water. I still don’t fully understand that sometimes,” he said. “But played to the smart side, just pulled it a little bit and was able to get a drop there by the grandstand, and it was a nice up-and-down.”
A long birdie putt on the 18th put an exclamation point on his round and moved him into the clubhouse lead at 4 under. There is nothing for Scheffler to play for this week — other than the win and prize that comes with it — as he’s secure in his position at the top of the FedEx Cup standings going into the Tour Championship. He nevertheless appears poised to be stationed the top of the leaderboard all weekend.
Conversely, McIlroy got off to a dreadful start with three bogeys in his first six holes to fall to 2 over early. He scratched out a pair of birdies in the middle of his round on Nos. 9 and 10 but closed with eight straight pars, unable to take advantage of the softer course after the delay in the same manner as Scheffler.
When asked to characterize his first round, McIlroy offered a blunt response.
“Awful,” he said. “Yeah, I got off to a bad start. Sort of pieced it together a little bit in the middle of the round and clawed it back to even par but drove the ball terribly. Then, when you’re sort of hitting out of the rough from the fairway bunkers here — when I hit the fairways, I give myself chances. I need to hit more fairways the next three days.”
While “awful” might be a bit harsh for an even-par round on a course that played over par on average for the top 50 players on the PGA Tour, McIlroy had to watch as Scheffler tore his way to the top of the leaderboard and now has to play catch up.
McIlroy felt he was trying to hit too many neutral drives, noting he did better today when playing a specific shot shape and that he would try to make that adjustment going forward. Even when he did give himself looks on the greens, he struggled to capitalize. Before the rain, the greens were extremely firm and fast, but he didn’t quite adjust to how they slowed down as well as Scheffler and others did after the delay.
“They’re tricky. There’s a lot of slope to them. They’re quite fast, and when it’s like that, matching line and speed is pretty tricky,” McIlroy said. “I think with the greens being a little slower and softer here, you’ll probably see guys hole a few more putts just because the rain sort of takes the nuance out of the greens a little bit. I’d expect the scoring to be pretty good here for the next couple hours.”
That comment from McIlroy proved prescient, as MacIntyre tore it up on the greens after the rain delay, pouring in long birdie putt after long birdie putt all the way to the clubhouse.
The leader
1. Robert MacIntyre (-8): MacIntyre was plotting along solidly when he stepped on the 13th green facing a 66-footer for birdie, but as soon as he poured that in, he unlocked an unbelievable level with the putter. MacIntyre rolled in just over 195 feet of putts in his first round with the majority of that distance coming on the final six holes. There were some shorties in there — most notably the 18th that he stuck to 5 feet — but for the most part, he did his damage with the flat stick. The putter tends to be the hardest club to keep hot in the bag, so we’ll see whether MacIntyre fares as well the rest of the weekend, but his close on Thursday evening gave him a healthy cushion on the field going into Friday.
Contenders
2. Tommy Fleetwood (-5)
3. Scottie Scheffler (-4)
T4. Viktor Hovland, Ben Griffin, Rickie Fowler (-3)
T7. Jason Day, Sam Burns, Ludvig Åberg, Harry Hall, Michael Kim (-2)
Fleetwood didn’t show any signs of lingering disappointment after his latest close call at the St. Jude last week as he’s right back in the thick of it at the BMW Chamionship. He had another great ball-striking day, leading the field in strokes gained around the green. He looks poised to give himself (and his fans) another weekend filled with hope. Perhaps, this time, it won’t end in heartbreak.
Scheffler slogged through the middle of his round before the rain delay, but his ability to close rounds strong was on full display after they came back. He is in position for what figures to be a ridiculous 13th consecutive top 10 on the PGA Tour this season.
Hovland says he found a swing thought on Tuesday that is working for him, and he rode that to a 67 that was at the top of the leaderboard for a long time as he was the best of the morning wave that didn’t get to enjoy the softer conditions after the rain. Fowler is looking to make the rare double-jump in the FedEx Cup Playoffs; he was among those that moved from outside the top 50 to the field this week and now eyes doing the same to make the Tour Championship.
Day was tied with Scheffler at 4 under thru 16 holes on Thursday, but consecutive bogeys on the 17th and 18th (including a wild miss on his approach at the last) dropped him back to 2 under. Like Fowler, HE is looking to climb into the top 30 and would be just inside that bubble number if he can maintain a T7 position all weekend.
2025 BMW Championship update odds, picks
- Scottie Scheffler (7/5)
- Robert MacIntyre (4-1)
- Tommy Fleetwood (6-1)
- Rory McIlroy (18-1)
- Ludvig Åberg (20-1)
- Viktor Hovland (20-1)
- Ben Griffin (22-1)
- Rickie Fowler (25-1)
The oddsmakers have separated the top three from the rest of the pack, which makes some sense at a course that seems like it’ll be difficult to go really low on. It’d be shocking if MacIntyre’s 62 doesn’t hold up all week (by some margin) as the best round we see at Caves Valley, so it’ll be hard for anyone too far back to really make a big move. That said, this is a course that could absolutely bring MacIntyre back to the field if his putter cools off, and there are some guys that could take advantage.
Scheffler is chief among them, which is why he’s the favorite by quite some margin, but it’s hard for me to jump at 7/5 on Thursday for a guy not even in the lead yet. Griffin at 22-1 is the most interesting of the longer shots to me, as he was steady all day and seems to be very confident with his game at this course.
