Rory McIlroy makes fast start at BMW Championship in Chicago

​The Northern Ireland star, who finished equal third in the FedEx St Jude Championship with Tommy Fleetwood in Memphis last week, opened with a 65 to finish five-under-par and clubhouse co-leader with the USA’s Brian Harman.

Despite hitting only three fairways, McIlroy has started with a real sense of purpose.

"Luckily the golf course was soft!” he told Sky Sports.

"I think back to 2020 and if I’d only hit three fairways I’d have been closer to 75 than 65, so it wasn’t too good off the tee.

"There was a lot of crosswinds and I was trying to hit a ton of drivers and stay aggressive. Sometimes it’s an advantage coming out of the rough for these approach shots because you know the ball’s not going to spin, it’s going to stop dead.

"Not that I was trying to hit it in the rough, but I knew that if I did, I wouldn’t have too much trouble from there.”

After a two-hour weather delay, McIlroy – who is bidding to win the FedEx Cup for the fourth time – started his round with six straight pars.

However, the Holywood player rolled in a birdie from 12 feet on the seventh and followed up with another from 14 feet on the ninth as he went for the turn two under.

Finding his range with his putter, McIlroy holed another birdie on the 10th from ten feet and made another at the 15th from around five feet.

The 34-year-old then recovered spectacularly after pulling his drive down the 17th.

After his second shot ended up in the rough behind the green, McIlroy expertly chipped in for a sensational birdie to move to five-under before making par on the 18th.

On his brilliant birdie at the 17th, McIlroy added: “I certainly wasn’t expecting to make three when the tee shot was in the air, but it was a nice one to make.

"I was trying to get it through the gap in the trees and if it finished in the bunker, that was fine. I was trying to get it somewhere around the green, get it up and down, and move on but I played it one better than that, which was a big bonus.”