BMW championship leaderboard in 2022: Keegan Bradley leads after Round 1 with many big giants near the top
The BMW Championship got off to a great start on Thursday as the best players in the world worked their way up to the top of the leaderboard and perhaps the world’s top golfer took the lead. in the first round (more on that later). Keegan Bradley is in the lead after shooting 7 under 64 through the first 18 holes and is looking for his second BMW Championship win in the last five years.
Bradley could have many big-name companies at the top of the leaderboard for the next 54 holes. Justin Thomas, Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Patrick Cantlay and Jordan Spieth all had good days and are all well positioned to win their second great playoff this week.
Wilmington Country Club is, as expected, a bomber’s paradise. Bradley is happy about it because it is one of the strongest parts of his game and the top of the leaderboard is home to the most famous people in the sport. While we can debate whether that’s a good thing for a PGA Tour setup, something we can’t really question is that reality? This week has implications for how the rest of the league plays out.
Let’s take a look back at Bradley’s first round and what to look out for over the next three days.
Leaders
1. Keegan Bradley (-7): His 64 in Round 1 was marked by one of the better playing days of his career. He led the field on shot, carried out his usual light-out routine with his iron play and, as a result, took another first-round lead on the PGA Tour. Surprisingly, Bradley is only trailing Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm and Justin Thomas in the first-round spots for the past three years.
Equally important for Bradley, who on day 44 in the FedEx Cup standings, he is predicted to jump into the top five for the Tour Championship at East Lake. Obviously there’s a long way to go, but this will only be his second Tour championship since 2014 (with another coming in 2018 when he wins the BMW Championship). ).
“I never looked to see what I had to do [to make it to the Tour Championship]”, said Bradley. Whether I play in this league or Sony or whatever, I always want to do the best I can, whether it’s 35th instead of 36th or first, whatever it is. I never felt it helped me, I really felt it hurt me. But this is a good start, obviously. ”
Other candidates
2. Adam Scott (-6)
T3. Justin Thomas, Shane Lowry, Harold Varner III (-5)
T6. Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Tyrrel Hatton, Cameron Young, Russell Henley, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Chez Reavie (-4)
Thomas became the league’s favorite after Round 1. He’s had a few months of ups and downs (for him at least) since he won the PGA Championship in May. almost won in Canada, but everything else is pretty mediocre. He excelled at FedEx St. Jude Championship last week where he was in the top 15 and it was a great Thursday. One thing to note is that he hit only eight fairways and lost out-of-field shots. I’m not sure he can get away with that like he did on Thursday, but he has consistently been near the top of the most recent FedEx Cup race – first, seven, three, two and fourth in the past five years – which I expect much of the same to come to East Lake.
Rory was the only one who missed
In the afternoon, it looks like the best player in the world from the past year (at least statistically) will lead this tournament after day one. McIlroy then tried to hit a cut into par-3 15, hit a treble after it landed in the middle of the pond and settled for 3 under 68. Shockingly, this wasn’t the only place he was. I dropped three sticks. Five takes him from third to ninth in the FedEx Cup standings, meaning he’s also three strokes short of next week’s starting figure at the Tour Championship. Still, it was an impressive day for McIlroy, who completely battered Wilmington Country Club with his racer and perhaps he should have done more than he did.
“Much better than last week,” McIlroy said of his performance. “It feels like I’ve shaken off the rust a little bit. It was just a tee shot on the 15th. I felt like I was probably half way over the club, so I tried to cut through the water, and I just passed it twice and then paired it with three hits.
“But overall the rest of it was pretty good. I mean, when I got here last weekend, I knew it was a golf course that would suit me better than last week. my first back in three weeks was this course and then Memphis next week but it was much better happy with my game Disappointed with how i finished but encouraged with the rest of it.”
Tough day with the putter
Statistically speaking, Luke List had one of the worst days I’ve ever seen. Somehow, he hit the tee to green and still shot 78. That’s because he lost 9.05 strokes on put, or more than half a stroke per hole. The next worst is Si Woo Kim with -5.14 and then you have to go to Mito Pereira with -3.40. The list should shoot 68 or 69 based on how he hits it, and he will probably be sixth.
2022 BMW Championship updated with odds and selection
- Justin Thomas: 6-1
- Rory McIlroy: 9-1
- Keegan Bradley: 11-1
- Cameron Young: 12-1
- Xander Schauffele: 12-1
- Scottie Scheffler: 12-1
- Collin Morikawa: 14-1
- Adam Scott: 14-1
I like Rory here, but I prefer Cameron Young at 12-1, according to the latest odds from Caesars Sportsbook. He’s going to celebrate on this course, hit the positives in each category on Thursday and he’s a bad guy. Each of his last 12 matches has been in the top three or out of the top 30, which is a truly incredible streak that I think will continue this weekend.
Rick Gehman and Kyle Porter recap Thursday’s action at the BMW Championship. Follow and listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.
