2023 BMW Championship leaderboard: Rory McIlroy, Brian Harman share lead with Scottie Scheffler one shot back

McIlroy shot a bogey-free round Thursday and co-leads with a 5-under 65 after 18 holes at Olympia Fields

An unexpected easy day at Olympia Fields in the first round of the BMW Championship on finished with an expected first-round leader Thursday. Rory McIlroy (-5) co-leads after 18 holes along with Brian Harman (-5) with a host of stars chasing from just beyond those two.

McIlroy's day ended spectacularly with one of the great birdies you'll ever see (video below) before Harman matched his 65 later in the day.

The course itself took on loads of rain that delayed play early in the day and caused a championship venue to play a bit less difficult than it did back in 2020 when the last BMW Championship was held here. That is not expected to be the case over the next three days, however, and the tournament will likely get more difficult from here.

Let's dive into McIlroy and Harman's rounds, see who's chasing them and what to expect over the final 54 at Olympia Fields.

Leaders

Rory McIlroy, Brian Harman (-5): McIlroy somehow hit three fairways but 15 greens in regulation to shoot his 65. It was a Bizarro Rory round, but it ended with this up and down from 128 yards away behind a gaggle of trees off to the left of the 17th fairway.

The shot was, by Rory's own admission, pretty ridiculous.

"The window was OK," McIlroy said. "It was more there was a couple of branches above the window I was looking at, and I was like, 'If it hits those, it's just going to drop down sort of near that front left bunker and I'll have a decent angle down the green and mostly have at least a 10-footer or less to save par.'

"It was a bit of a hit and a hope. Just trying to thread that needle and hit it straight at the 17 sign. Yeah, it was just one of those, it was either sort of chip it out or try to take it on, and it's only Thursday, I thought, 'What the heck, I'll take it on and see what happens.'"

What happened was that he made 3 when 5 (or worse) was probably in play, which is often the type of turnaround you need when you're trying to win a big time tournament like this.

Other contenders

T3. Scottie Scheffler, Matt Fitzpatrick, Wyndham Clark, Chris Kirk, Rickie Fowler, Sahith Theegala (-4)
T9. Corey Conners, Collin Morikawa, Cameron Young (-3)

Is this the week Scheffler's putter keeps up with the rest of his game? That was the case Thursday when he gained a half stroke on the field with the flat stick. If that happens the other three days, he should cruise to his third victory of the season.

"I think it was a really solid day," Scheffler said. "I hit a lot of greens. I rolled the ball pretty good on the greens. It was a pretty solid day. I think the conditions late in the day, the greens with all the rain, they got pretty chewed up, and all you could do was hit nice putts, and I felt like I did that most of the [time]."

Scheffler has finished in the top five in 24 of his last 46 starts and has six wins in there, which is a lot but perhaps not as many as he believes he could have based on how well he's hit it. This week is a good chance to add No. 7.

BMW Championship Odds

All odds courtesy of Caesars Sportsbook

• Rory McIlroy: +260
  
• Scottie Scheffler: +550
• Brian Harman: +700
• Rickie Fowler: +1100
• Wyndham Clark: +1100

I believe McIlroy is going to win this tournament, but that's a tough number after the first round. You can go one shot down the board to somebody like Rickie Fowler (who hit it great on Thursday) and get a much better number. That's probably the range I would land in without having to go too far back, which you don't want to do because McIlroy and Scheffler are involved at the very top, and they'll be very difficult to catch.

Rick Gehman and Kyle Porter break down the opening round of the BMW Championship. Its scorecards, storylines and betting favorites from Olympia Fields. Follow & listen to The First Cut on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.

[Aug 17, 2023 at 6:36 pm ET · Kyle Porter]

Scottie Scheffler making a run

Scheffler is currently 3 under, making putts and climbing the leaderboard. He's on an insane run of 24 top fives in his last 45 starts, and this is beginning to look like yet another one. Don't let Scottie's putter get hot!

[Aug 17, 2023 at 5:21 pm ET · Kyle Porter]

Rory McIlroy shoots 65

We have a new leader in the clubhouse as Rory McIlroy cards a 65 with an insane birdie at the 17th in which he got up and down from here. Absolutely ridiculous stuff ... and he didn't even hit it that well today (he was a 0 in strokes gained off the tee).

[Aug 17, 2023 at 4:52 pm ET · Kyle Porter]

Theegala and Fitzpatrick in the house early

Sahith Theegala and Matt Fitzpatrick both shot 4-under 66s earlier today and share the clubhouse lead. Rory McIlroy, 4 under through 16 holes, looks as if he's about to join them as a co-leader. Golf course is playing slightly easier than it normally does, likely because of all the rain in Chicago recently. Course average is currently right at even par.