Van Pelt, Rory among leaders at BMW; Tiger 1 back

Carmel, IN (Sports Network) - Coming off his win last week in Massachusetts, Rory McIlroy fired an 8-under 64 on Thursday to grab a share of the lead after the opening round of the BMW Championship.

The PGA Champion was joined atop the leaderboard by U.S. Open winner Webb Simpson, Bo Van Pelt and Graham DeLaet.

Tiger Woods, who was paired with McIlroy, carded a 7-under 65 and is tied for fifth with Vijay Singh at Crooked Stick Golf Club.

Luke Donald, Ryan Palmer and Ryan Moore share seventh place at minus-6.

Part of the reason for the low scores was that players were playing under lift-clean-and-place rules due to a very wet course. Rain from Hurricane Isaac soaked the course last weekend and more rain fell on Wednesday.

McIlroy posted back-to-back 67s on Sunday and Monday to win the Deutsche Bank Championship. That helped him increase his lead atop the world rankings and gave him momentum entering this week.

The 23-year-old opened with a birdie on the 10th, but he gave that shot back when he bogeyed the par-3 13th. An eagle on the 15th and a birdie at 18 helped McIlroy make the turn at minus-3.

He made it two in a row with a birdie on the first. McIlroy's roll slowed as he had one birdie and five pars between the second and seventh.

McIlroy birdied the eighth to get within one of the lead. He pitched his third to four feet at the par-5 ninth and rolled that putt in for birdie.

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