Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy began the weather-delayed BMW Championship in Maryland with level-par rounds of 70 as Scotland’s Bob MacIntyre made a late charge with a stunning 62 to take a three-shot lead.
MacIntyre finished with six birdies after the weather delay as his putter got hot, including putts holed from 66 feet and 40 feet en route to reaching eight-under-par.
In-form Tommy Fleetwood, still searching his first win, finished the day in second after a five-under-par 65, with world number one Scottie Scheffler a shot further back after a four-under-par 66.
McIlroy is paired with Scheffler for the first two rounds and is eight shots back, as is Lowry.
The pair came into this week with very different objectives on the PGA Tour, but East Lake, and the FedEx Cup’s season-ending Tour Championship, is on the horizon before attentions turn to the Ryder Cup in Bethpage in six weeks.
For Lowry, he is outside the automatic places for Team Europe at present and his disappointing tied-59 finish in Memphis at the opening play-off saw him slip to 23rd in the FedEx Cup rankings, and he will need to remain competitive in Caves Valley this weekend.
Lowry knew he had to make a fast start and had three birdies in his first three holes. His wonderful approach on the Par 4 first, left him with 18 inches for birdie. He slotted a 12-foot birdie putt on the second, and one from just over 8ft on the third.
The Clara native dropped shots on the seventh and 10th, but bounced back on the Par 4 11th, following a brilliant approach and a 16ft birdie putt. A superb long iron provided the platform for another birdie chance from 8ft on the 519-yard Par 4 12th, but he missed.
He then bogeyed 14 and 15 and despite his second birdie of the back nine, on 16, another dropped shot on 17 saw him finish his round on level-par.
McIlroy was wayward off the tee and he had three bogeys on his front nine, losing shots on the second, fourth and sixth. The only highlight was the third, where his tee shot set up a 10ft putt for birdie, which he drained.
While Scheffler had three birdies in the first four holes, McIlroy was forced to chase and he finally made some headway with a brilliant birdie on the ninth.
And just as McIlroy began to find some momentum, the reigning FedEx Cup champion faltered with back-to-back bogeys to fall out of the lead. Meanwhile, McIlroy picked up another shot on the 10th with a putt from just under 10ft.
The Holywood golfer almost holed his second from 201 yards on the 12th, but had to settle for par after his putt from the fringe grazed the hole. He had further pars on 13 and 14 before the klaxon sounded after his tee shot on the Par 4 15th. McIlroy failed to make headway after the delay, parring his way in at Caves Valley.
