Rory McIlroy fires a 65 to share the Genesis Scottish Open lead as Brooks Koepka, Min Woo Lee and a loaded field give chase at The Renaissance Club.
Rory McIlroy wasted no time announcing his presence at the Genesis Scottish Open.
The 2023 champion opened Thursday with a 5-under-par 65, grabbing a share of the first-round lead at The Renaissance Club and immediately putting himself in position to win the tournament for the second time in four years.
McIlroy wasn’t alone at the top. Patrick Cantlay, Tom Kim, Bernd Wiesberger and Rasmus Højgaard also reached 5 under, creating a five-player traffic jam heading into Friday’s second round.
The leaderboard gets even more dangerous one shot behind them. Brooks Koepka and Min Woo Lee are among seven players sitting at 4 under, close enough to turn Friday into a full-blown shootout.
McIlroy will return to the course at 8:54 a.m. ET alongside Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre and defending champion Chris Gotterup.
Their group should have no shortage of attention, especially with McIlroy chasing another victory on Scottish soil and MacIntyre playing in front of a home crowd.
The morning wave features plenty of star power, too. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler tees off at 3:28 a.m. with Matt Fitzpatrick and Tommy Fleetwood.
Justin Thomas, Ludvig Åberg and Patrick Reed follow at 3:39 a.m.
Golf Channel will carry Friday’s television coverage from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. ET.
Fans looking for the earliest action can stream PGA TOUR LIVE on ESPN+ beginning at 3:30 a.m., with main-feed, marquee-group, featured-group and featured-hole options available throughout the round.
Weekend coverage shifts to Golf Channel from 10 a.m. to noon before CBS takes over from noon to 3 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
With McIlroy already attacking and Koepka lurking, the Scottish Open leaderboard is loaded, crowded and ready to explode.
Follow Timm Hamm on X at @IndyCarTim
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