Aug. 20, 2026, 7:18 p.m. ET
ST. LOUIS – As Rory McIlroy settled into a chair to be interviewed by Golf Channel’s Kira K. Dixon, he summed up his bogey-free 6-under 64 at Bellerive Country Club on Thursday – good enough for a share of the lead with four other players at the BMW Championship — in one word.
“Unexpected,” McIlroy, the world No. 2 and reigning Masters champion, said.
“I knew you had it in you,” Dixon shot back with a smile.
McIlroy was coming off a dismal performance in the sweltering heat of Memphis at a TPC Southwind course that he’s on record as saying isn’t his cup of tea. The Northern Irishman got lapped by winner Scottie Scheffler, finishing 66th and beating just two players in the field who bothered to complete 72 holes.
McIlroy left Memphis deflated but he flew home and got back to work on Monday with his longtime swing coach Michael Bannon and caddie Harry Diamond.
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“I went home and I worked on a few things and at least got myself back in a frame of mind where like I felt like I’m at least back on the right path of what I’m doing with my game and with my swing. It’s certainly a work in progress,” McIlroy said. “Days like this are encouraging.”
For McIlroy, a change of scenery did a lot of good and he admitted that in addition to the cooler temperature – relatively speaking as it still reached the high 80s – Bellerive is a big ballpark that suits his game. He “held it together,” he said, on the front nine, making birdies at Nos. 4 and 8 to go out in 33 and then started hitting a few more fairways and birdied four of the last six holes coming in.
McIlroy has added a rehearsal of his takeaway to his pre-shot routine and while he admittedly is still thinking about his golf swing too much, he’s able to visualize the shot he wants to make in his head and execute it better.
“It went as well as it could have today, for sure,” he said.
But McIlroy is in the midst of a busy stretch of golf and he knows the real work to correct his swing will have to wait to the off-season. He quoted a favorite saying of his dad to emphasize his point. “One swallow doesn’t make a summer,” he said.
In other words, one round doesn’t signal all is well in his game again but it’s a start and he’s sitting pretty after one round at the BMW.
