ST. LOUIS — The first round of the 2026 BMW Championship brought large crowds to Bellerive Country Club – and to the top of the leaderboard.

Five players – including four U.S. Open champions – posted matching 6-under 64s, taking advantage of a golf course softened by rain on Sunday and Wednesday in front of eager fans celebrating the PGA TOUR’s much-anticipated return to St. louis.

Gary Woodland set the pace, teeing off at 9:36 a.m. and getting in the clubhouse first at 6-under par. He was later joined by Wyndham Clark, Rory McIlroy, J.J. Spaun and Chris Gotterup.

“The golf course is perfect,” Woodland said. “Obviously we would not like to have the rain that they had, but the condition of the golf course, the zoysia is perfect, the greens are rolling amazing, the rough’s consistent throughout. They have done a great job.”

Playing just four hours from his hometown of Topeka, Kansas, Woodland finished his opening nine in 4-under 31. He holed out for eagle from 99 yards on the par-4 11th hole and reached 7-under par before missing his first green of the day on No. 18 and finishing with bogey.

“Eighteen years on TOUR, this is as close as I’ll ever get to home,” Woodland said. “So this is special. When it’s on the calendar, I look forward to coming back, for sure.”

One week after he finished 66th out of 69 players at the FedEx St. Jude Championship in Memphis, McIlroy went bogey free en route to taking his 27th first-round lead or co-lead in a stroke-play event.

He birdied his last two holes, thrilling the large contingent of fans that followed him throughout the day.

“It’s the one thing I remember from 2018 was just the support that this local community give us here,” McIlroy said. “The golf course is, you know, it’s my style of golf course. I do well on these golf courses. They’re big, they’re long. You can get away with missing some tee shots at times. Definitely a course that sets up better for me than the one we played last week.”

Clark also closed with a flourish, birdieing five of his last six holes, including No. 16-18, to join the group at the top.

“I think when greens are this soft I think all of us kind of have the pedal to the metal, and we see every pin as a green light,” Clark said. “Then obviously it helps if you see someone shoot 6-, 7-, 8-under, whatever, you know it's out there. So then in your mind you're like, ‘OK, my run's going to come.’”

Ryo Hisatsune and Matt Fitzpatrick are tied for sixth after opening with 5-under 65s. The group at 4-under includes Ludvig Aberg, Alex Fitzpatrick, Michael Thorbjornsen and Jacob Bridgeman.

Spectator gates open at 8 a.m. Friday, with second-round tee times starting at 9:03 a.m.