Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry ended the day in red figures with Aaron Rai 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 McIlroy came roaring out of the traps, birdieing five of his first nine holes to hit the front before playing his second nine in two-over to card a 69 that saw him end the day in a tie for 19th.
Lowry, fresh off victory at Doonbeg, made four birdies and three bogeys on his way to a one-under 71 to lie T56, while Tom McKibbin and Pádraig Harrington are both the wrong side of par at +1 and +2 respectively.
But 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 six under 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, one clear of a group of 12 players including Race to Dubai Rankings Delivered by DP World leader Patrick Reed, Open Champion Ryan Fox and Åberg’s fellow Ryder Cup stars Viktor Hovland and Robert MacIntyre.
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.”
Starting on the ninth, the 31-year-old holed from 15 feet on the 10th and then got dialled in with his irons, putting shots inside ten feet on the 11th, 13th and 14th.
He dropped his only shot of the day as he failed to get up and down on the 16th but he bounced back on the par-five next, hit a smart tee-shot into the second and then a stunner into the seventh before saving par after going in the water at the eighth.
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.
He carried that momentum into last season as he recorded two runner-up finishes and a best Race to Dubai position of 24th but he feels he has work to do on his game despite matching his lowest round over the West Course.
“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.”
The 34-year-old sandwiched a gain on the par-five fourth with lengthy putts on the second and fifth but dropped a shot on the ninth as he turned in 34.
He then eagled the par-five 12th from 22 feet, put a tee shot to ten feet on the 14th and made a two-putt birdie on the last to join the lead.
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 gains 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 four-under.
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