BMW Championship Leaderboard 2026 Review of Top Scorecards and Player Stats on Day 1

Five golfers share the lead after Day 1 at the BMW Championship.

Rory McIlroy is the most notable member of the quintet. His spot atop the leaderboard is notable for him after a rough start to the FedEx Cup playoffs last week.

Gary Woodland is the most important of the five leaders in the context of the FedEx Cup standings.

Woodland started the week on the outside of the top 30 cut, but as it stands right now, he is in line to make the Tour Championship.

The top 30 golfers in the FedEx Cup standings after the BMW Championship move on to the Tour Championship.

The full tournament leaderboard can be found here on PGATour.com.

Five Leaders After Round 1

Alex Slitz/Getty Images

Gary Woodland, Wyndham Clark, JJ Spaun, Rory McIlroy and Chris Gotterup are tied for the 18-hole lead.

All of them shot six-under 64, but the most meaningful of the rounds came from Woodland.

Woodland entered the week in 31st place in the FedEx Cup standings, one spot under the top 30 cut to make it to next week's Tour Championship.

After Thursday, Woodland sits in 17th in the projected FedEx Cup standings. The other four co-leaders started the week in the top 20.

Woodland has a long way to go to secure advancement, but Thursday was a huge step in the right direction.

The big story from Thursday is that low scores could be prominent throughout the week. Eleven golfers shot four-under or better and 24 of the 50 in the field are multiple shots under par.

Rory McIlroy Rebounds from Rough Week

Alex Slitz/Getty Images

Rory McIlroy bounced back from a rough week in Memphis with a six-under 64 on Thursday.

McIlroy rolled in six birdies during his round and did not a drop a shot.

The Northern Irishman caught fire on the back nine with four birdies in the final six holes. He concluded the round with birdies on the 17th and 18th holes.

The finish was a stark contrast from his opening round a week ago, when he dropped a few shots on the back end of his round.

A week ago, McIlroy was already out of contention for the win. He finished at eight-over for the tournament.

He didn't win the tournament on Thursday, but he put himself in a much better position to win with his round.

Scottie Scheffler Struggles

Rick Ulreich/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images

Scottie Scheffler's quest to win back-to-back tournaments took a big hit on Thursday.

Scheffler opened with bogeys on the third, fourth and fifth holes. He then dropped another shot on the seventh.

He battled back with three birdies throughout the round, but it still wasn't enough to pull him back to even-par.

Scheffler currently sits in a tie for 44th at two-over. The actual result at the BMW doesn't matter for him because he's comfortably atop the FedEx Cup standings, but he does need to improve over the weekend to enter the Tour Championship in solid form.