England’s Aaron Rai and Swede Joakim Lagergren will take a share of the lead into Friday at the BMW PGA Championship after each carding opening rounds of 66 at Wentworth Club.
The pair shot six under par to begin their respective campaigns over the famous West Course, their performances among the morning starters enough to set the initial target after day one.
Rai, starting on the ninth with a two-tee start in play over the first two rounds of the Rolex Series event, birdied four of his opening six holes to find his groove, before his only blemish of the day came at the par four 16th.
He quickly recovered with a gain at the 17th, later adding a further two birdies at the second and seventh, while an up-and-down from the drop zone at the eighth after finding the water off the tee avoided a closing bogey.
It marked a strong start for the World Number 18, who is hoping to build on a special year to date, having claimed his maiden Major at the US PGA Championship in May.
Lagergren too will be hoping to continue his early momentum in Surrey. The 34-year-old picked up three shots across his first five holes, giving one back just before the turn to go out in 33.
A stellar eagle at the 12th offset any major damage, with a birdie on the 14th and at the last adding to an impressive first-round performance in his tenth appearance at the prestigious Rolex Series event.
Ryan Gerard was the next best of the morning groups, finishing one shot back thanks to a round of six birdies and a bogey.
The World Number 21 was later joined by Australia’s Adam Scott, Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg and Spaniard Nacho Elvira, who all navigated windy afternoon conditions to reach five under par.
Race to Dubai leader Patrick Reed, Champion Golfer of the Year Ryan Fox and eight-time PGA Tour winner Viktor Hovland are among those in a share of seventh at four under.
Player quotes
Aaron Rai: Really pleased overall. 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 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.
We played it the last two days and hit driver both days (on eight). Wind conditions felt like it suited that shot though do it again but underestimated the strength of the wind and it was a little stronger than it was the previous two days and the fairway was a lot firmer than we expected. A really good tee shot but obviously ran out a lot more. Nonetheless, extremely pleasing to make par there. A bit of a difficult way to finish.
I think it’s always a little bit of a guessing game (the wind). A lot of holes are very tree-lined and the trees are very tall, as well, so it’s always swirling around.
Joakim Lagergren: Scored really well today so I’m happy with that. I hit three good ones. But it was a few good ones, a few bad ones. I feel like I wasn’t at my best today, if that’s okay to say after a minus six, but I feel like I have still work to do.
I mean, 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 was pretty decent today, which I like. But obviously, it wasn’t a hundred percent. But it never is really.
Yeah, that would be huge (qualifying for the play-offs). I love those playoffs events in the Middle East. So looking forward to securing that spot with some good play.
Ryan Gerard: It was kind of wet, windy, nasty morning, and it’s turned out real nice right now. But just kind of hung tough all day. Didn’t feel like I played particularly great. Just hitting solid golf shots. Felt like I was just burning edges on a lot of putts and just tried to stay patient; and was lucky enough to make like a seven- or eight-footer on 7, and maybe a 12-footer on 8, to kind of finish the round on a high note.
I played here last year. I really like the golf course. I feel like I got used to a couple of the tee shots that are a little bit more weird and difficult. I hit a really good tee shot on 17, a really good tee shot on 18 and didn’t take advantage of them. Those are holes I really struggled with last year off the tee because the angles are a bit strange. I like this golf course a lot. You just have to kind of be patient. The hole locations can get pretty gnarly, and I felt like we were putting the ball in the right spots.
It’s cool. I feel like we got some big crowds today. I don’t know if they were watching us or just waiting for Rory to come in behind us, but a lot of people are really stoked to be here and that’s awesome. You can feel the energy. It’s a great tournament.
Adam Scott: I played really, really solid. I would say for sure one of my best rounds, tee to green, this year. Not really sure why, just a nice tee shot off the first, kind of calmed any nerves and then went about my business from there. It’s a nice way to play Wentworth when there’s low stress. So three to go. I mean, a bit more of that kind of golf would be fantastic, but I know I’m going to have to dig deep to hang in there this week.
I put a new driver in earlier this week. Mine kind of broke leading into here. So a new one went in and that’s working nicely. But it is the key to Wentworth. If you’re in the fairway, you can create some opportunities. If you’re not, it’s a long day out there.
It’s a nice way to finish. It would have been great to make the putt, but it was a bit of a bit of a slider and I kind of hit it a bit too weak. But, you know, keep making swings like that. Like I said, the opportunities will come. I can take a few. And, you know, to be in the mix here on Sunday would be so fantastic. It’s one of my favourite events. Love being here. So I’d love to have a shot at it.
Ludvig Åberg: I thought it was difficult. Obviously the wind was a big factor today, it was swirling. You’re meant to have the west wind coming this way and you can’t feel it going this way, so it definitely increases the difficulty level a little bit, but I felt like we managed it really well today and yeah, happy with the finish for sure.
I wasn’t really driving it that well today. I felt like I was missing a lot of fairways. So obviously after I was a bit annoyed with myself, leaving that one out to the right, make it double, so it was nice to finish that way. Definitely, obviously 17, 18 were par 5s, but you still have to hit shots, they’re difficult par 5s. I’m definitely pleased with that.
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