Rory McIlroy endured another eventful day as he finished with a rollercoaster 71 in the BMW Championship in Denver.

Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry are guaranteed to be among the top 30 in the FedEx Cup, who will do battle for the Tour Championship and a $25 million bonus in Atlanta next week.

Shane Lowry agonisingly missed out on qualifying for the Tour Championship for the first time as Pádraig Harrington racked up his second win of the season on the PGA Tour Champions.

Shane Lowry motored to his lowest opening round since April and insisted he’s chasing his first win for more than three years in the BMW Championship and a chance to win the $17 million FedEx Cup bonanza in Atlanta next week.

RORY McIlroy is not giving up on his third $15 million FedEx Cup bonanza after he blasted an eight-under 64 to share the lead with Jon Rahm and Sam Burns in the BMW Championship in Baltimore.

Rory McIlroy is three shots behind leaders Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama at the BMW Championship.

Driving the ball well is the heartbeat of Rory McIlroy’s game and that was key to his race to the top of the leaderboard in the BMW Championship at a testing Olympia Fields.

Like the distracted student who suddenly finds some focus three weeks before a major examination, Rory McIlroy showed signs of emerging from his post-lockdown funk out the outskirt of Chicago last night.