St. louis: Rory McIlroy, the world number two golfer from Northern Ireland, admitted that targeted adjustments to his weaknesses with his team helped him regain his form in time to share the clubhouse lead after the first round of the BMW Championship playoffs at Bellerive Country Club.

According to Thai News Agency, after a disastrous performance, finishing in the top 66 at the St Jude Championship last week, McIlroy bounced back brilliantly with a 6-under-par 66. He started the first nine holes 2-under, then rallied with a birdie on hole 13, and went on a scoring spree with three birdies in the final four holes to share the lead with four American local pros: Gary Woodland, Wyndham Clark, J.J. Spone, and Chris Gotterup.

The top Northern Irish golfer revealed that taking a swing fine-tuning course with his trusted coach Michael Bannon and caddy Harry Diamond was a crucial turning point in restoring his confidence and feel after the Memphis tournament. He felt that the layout of the Bellerive course, with its wider fairways, suited his playing style better, and although he still had some erroneous drives, he managed to get by.

While other pros performed impressively, Ryo Hisatsune of Japan finished the round at 5 under par, just one stroke behind the leaders. Alex Fitzpatrick, Michael Thorbjohnsen, and Ludwig -berg were tied for 7th place with a score of 4 under par.

Robert McIntyre redeemed himself by finishing the first round with a score of 2 under par, after having to withdraw from the St Jude Championship last week before the second round began due to a dismal 12 over par 82 on the first day.

Conversely, world number one and defending champion Scotty Scheffler, who just won the Memphis tournament on Sunday, had a difficult start, dropping four bogeys in the first seven holes and falling to the bottom of the leaderboard.