BMW Championship: Dissecting the Day 1 Leaderboard

Justin Rose shot an eight-under, for a two-shot lead over FedEx Cup points leader Webb Simpson and Mark Wilson on Day 1 at the BMW Championship.

Rose, ranked 40th in the world and winless this year, stormed through the Cog Hill Golf & Country Club today, making nine birdies—five in the front nine—and one bogey on the par-4, 486-yard 13th.

Simpson, who is looking to solidify his first-place in the standings, finished tied for second on Day 1 with Wilson at six-under.

Simpson was not particularly accurate with his driving, but was dead accurate in his putting today, as he shot a bogey-free round. He finished strong, playing the back-nine at four-under.

Wilson was even after a bogey on fifth. But he had a red-hot finish. He reached the green of the par-5, 526 yards 15th, leaving the second shot eight feet from the hole, sinking the putt for an eagle.

Wilson then birdied the 16th and 18th, capping his Round 1 score of six-under.

K.J. Choi stands alone in fourth at four-under. He started with four birdies in his first six holes, but had just one more on 13th, after he had his only bogey at 12th. His score is remarkable, considering he was slightly over 50 percent in driving accuracy today.

Just behind Choi, tied for fifth at three-under, were FedEx Cup defending champ Jim Furyk, Camilo Villegas and John Senden.

Furyk, who needs a good finish here to be in the top 30 in the standings, exited the front-nine even, but finish strong, making three straight birdies from 14th through 16th.

Villegas is no stranger at closing big on the FedEx Cup. He played an up and down round as he had a bogey on each nine. Meanwhile, Senden was even after nine, but played the back-nine at three-under.

After this top seven players, there were 10 finishing tied for eight at two-under. They were Sergio Garcia, Chez Reavie, Rickie Fowler, Hunter Mahan, Robert Karlsson, Zach Johnson, Chad Campbell, Robert Allenby and Jimmy Walker.

There were plenty of surprising bad scores from the top players in the standings today.

Dustin Johnson shot a five-over, Luke Donald a four-over, Jason Day a six-over, Steve Stricker a five-over, Vijay Singh a five-over and Bubba Watson a seven-over.

FedEx Cup Projections

It’s only Round 1, but since this is the last chance to qualify for the Tour Championship next week, and only the top 30 get in, players fighting to qualify, pay close attention to this.

The biggest upward movers today, on the not-final standings, were Justin Rose, who unofficially moves up 31 slots, John Senden up 20 slots, Camilo Villegas up 17 slots and Jim Furyk up 12 slots.

Of the previously mentioned players, the ones moving into the top 30 in the standings would be Rose, up to third, Furyk up to 23rd and Villegas would move right up to 30th. Senden would still need some improvement as he is standing at 35th.

Two players whose projection shows them moving close to the top 30 are Zach Johnson up to 31st and Rickie Fowler up to 33rd. They need some slight improvement the rest of the way and they could be in.

The players who have dropped out of the top 30 are Charl Schwartzel (down five to 32nd) and Kyle Stanley (down seven to 37th).

The three players who are right after the official 30th slot are currently projected to fade from a chance at qualifying.

They are Martin Laird, down from 31st to 38th, Charley Hoffman, down from 32nd to 42nd and Brian Davis, down from 33rd to 44th.

There are three more rounds to be played, but so far the chances for Webb Simpson to run away with the FedEx Cup are greatly improving. His closest challengers must step it up a notch before it’s too late.

Round 2 starts Friday at 10:20 am EST from holes No. 1 and 10.

- Carlos Torres