![\"Min](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1787277195_362_.jpeg\")
[Photo: AP PHOTO] Min Woo Lee hits from the rough on the fourth hole during his opening 69. <\/p>\nAdam Scott remains on track to qualify for the rich Tour Championship 20 years after winning golf\u2019s season-ending showpiece.<\/p>\n
In another extraordinary display of longevity, 46-year-old Scott retained 27th spot in the season-long points race after opening the second FedExCup Playoff event with a two-under-par 68.<\/p>\n
Rory McIlroy, Americans Gary Woodland, JJ Spaun, Chris Gutterup and two-time US Open champion Wyndham Clark set the early pace with opening six-under 64s at the BMW Championship in Missouri.<\/p>\n
Japan\u2019s Ryo Hisatune is solo fifth after firing a first-round 65.<\/p>\n
Only the top 30 players in the points race after the penultimate event will qualify for the $US40 million Tour Championship, which Scott won in 2006.<\/p>\n
Fellow Australian Min Woo Lee is also well positioned, despite dropping from 18th to 22nd after opening with a one-under 69 in St Louis.<\/p>\n
[Photo: AP PHOTO] Min Woo Lee hits from the rough on the fourth hole during his opening 69. <\/p>\n
McIlroy got the improved display he had demanded from himself after labouring to an eight-over finish at last week\u2019s St Jude Championship, where Scottie Scheffler coasted to victory.<\/p>\n
The world No.2 had admitted a positive display again at Bellerive would \u2018feel like a win\u2019.<\/p>\n
It has been a run of frustrating performances from the back-to-back Masters champion, who had returned to action in Memphis for the first time since he tied for 40th at The Open.<\/p>\n
McIlroy, though, showed signs of getting back into his groove as part of the early afternoon wave, with birdies at the fourth and then on eight to turn at two under.<\/p>\n
A fine tee shot on the par-three 13th then left the Northern Irishman to roll in a seven-foot putt and he picked up another shot following a lengthy drive on the 492-yard 15th.<\/p>\n
McIlroy \u2013 sitting 13th in the play-off standings and who is assured of making \u00a0the 30-man season-ending Tour Championship \u2013 continued his momentum to finish with successive birdies and sign for a welcome 64.<\/p>\n
\u201cI felt at least like I got myself back going in the right direction, and what I wanted to do with my swing, but still you never know when you turn up here,\u201d McIlroy said on the Golf Channel.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis golf course sets up a lot better for me than Memphis did last week. You can miss it a little bit off the tee, and the playing corridors are a lot wider, so you can get away with it, which I needed to get away with it a couple of times today.\u201d<\/p>\n
World No.1 Scheffler had been in fine form last week with a final round of 66, but was soon slumped at the other end of the leaderboard after a run of four bogeys through the opening seven holes at Bellerive.<\/p>\n
The defending champion recovered a stroke heading into the turn but finished his round with a two-over 72.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Adam Scott remains on track to qualify for the rich Tour Championship 20 years after winning golf\u2019s season-ending…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53679,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[495,1443,44,2191,399,208,2672],"class_list":["post-53678","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","tag-adam-scott","tag-bmw-championship","tag-golf","tag-min-woo-lee","tag-rory-mcilroy","tag-scottie-scheffler","tag-tour-championship"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53678","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53678"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53678\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53679"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53678"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53678"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/golf\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53678"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}