Aaron Rai & Joakim Lagergren Share BMW PGA Championship Lead

• Aaron Rai and Joakim Lagergren share the first-round lead after six-under 66s at the BMW PGA Championship.
• Ludvig Åberg, Adam Scott, Ryan Gerard and Nacho Elvira are one shot behind on 5-under.
• Rory McIlroy opened with a 3-under round, leaving him three strokes off the lead.

Aaron Rai delighted the home crowd with a 6-under 66 to join Joakim Lagergren at the top of the BMW PGA Championship leaderboard after Thursday’s opening round.

The Englishman made seven birdies and one bogey on Wentworth Club’s West Course. Lagergren reached the same mark through an eagle and five birdies, with his only dropped shot coming at the 9th.

Rai and Lagergren lead by one from Sweden’s Ludvig Åberg, former Masters champion Adam Scott, American Ryan Gerard and Spain’s Nacho Elvira. A further 12 players sit on 4-under, while Masters champion Rory McIlroy is among a large group at 3-under.

The BMW PGA Championship is the third Rolex Series event of the season and drew bumper crowds to Wentworth for a strong field.

Rai Starts Quickly in Marquee Group

Rai played alongside McIlroy and Open champion Ryan Fox as he began his pursuit of a third Rolex Series victory. The 31-year-old has finished inside the top-5 at Wentworth in each of the past three seasons.

Starting at the 9th, he holed a 15-foot birdie putt at the tenth before producing a run of approach shots. Rai hit his irons inside ten feet at the 11th, 13th and 14th, converting each opportunity.

His lone bogey came after he failed to get up and down at the 16th, but he responded with a birdie on the par-5 17th. Further gains followed at the 2nd and 7th before he saved par after finding water at the 8th.

“Really pleased overall,” Rai said. “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.”

The 66 added to a strong year for Rai, who became the first English winner of the US PGA Championship in its stroke-play era with a three-shot victory at Aronimink in May. He also won the 2025 Abu Dhabi HSBC Championship, defeating Tommy Fleetwood in a play-off.

Lagergren Matches His Lowest Wentworth Round

Lagergren recovered from losing his DP World Tour card in 2023 by winning twice on the HotelPlanner Tour the following season. Two runner-up finishes then helped him reach a career-best 24th in the Race to Dubai.

The Swede birdied the 2nd from distance, gained another shot at the par-5 4th and holed another long putt at the 5th. After turning in 34 following a bogey at the 9th, he converted a 22-foot eagle putt on the par-5 12th.

A tee shot to ten feet set up birdie at the 14th, while a two-putt gain at the closing par-5 completed his 66 and matched his lowest round on the West Course.

“Scored really well today so I’m happy with that,” Lagergren said. “I feel like I wasn’t at my best today, if that’s OK to say after a minus six, but I feel like I have still work to do.”

Åberg and Elvira Finish Strong

Åberg recovered from a double bogey at the 15th by birdieing his final three holes. Elvira closed with four birdies in five holes, while Scott made five gains across his first 11 before finishing bogey-birdie.

Race to Dubai leader Patrick Reed, Fox, Viktor Hovland and Robert MacIntyre are among those two shots back. Gerard also sits one behind after six birdies and a single bogey.

Related: PGA Tour Sets Membership Pathways for Two-Series Structure From 2028

The Championship Series will house the Tour’s leading players, while the Challenger Series offers 20 annual promotion places under a performance-based system.

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