BMW Championship: Justin Thomas equals track record despite & # 039; sausage & # 039; warm up

Justin Thomas won the 2017 FedEx Cup, the BMW Championship first round leaderboard-7 J Thomas, J Kokrak (both US); -6 J Furyk, J Dahmen, L Glover, B Snedeker (all US); -5 R Sabbatini (Svk), S Piercy, T Finau, X Schauffele, C Morikawa, R Fowler, C Reavie (all US), A Scott (Aus), A Hadwin (Can) Selected others: -4 J Rose (Eng ), B Koepka, P Reed (both US); -3 R McIlroy, G McDowell (both NI), -2 P Casey, T Fleetwood, I Poulter (all Eng); -1 T Woods (USA) Complete standings

Justin Thomas says he had the worst warm-up of his life before he set the course record in Medinah to share the lead of the BMW championship after the first lap.

Americans Thomas, 26, and Jason Kokrak, 34, both set a record of seven under par 65 in Illinois on Thursday.

Despite carding a round of seven birdies and no bogeys, Thomas said he "could not hit the ball" in practice before I declined.

"I had the worst warm-up I have ever had in my life," he said.

"I had no idea what I was. I did not know how I would touch it.

" I have had that many times, only not so extreme. I'm usually pretty good at finding my way around a golf course and finding something, but I definitely didn't expect that. "

The BMW Championship is the second of three events in the FedEx Cup show of the US PGA tour. The top 30 players in the ranking after this tournament qualify for the Tour Championship on August 22 for the chance to become FedEx Cup champion.

Thomas, who won the FedEx Cup 2017, has moved to projected first place in the rankings after his opening round.

He was hindered this year without victory by a wrist injury that caused him to miss the US PGA Championship, which he won in 2017.

The other golfers to reach 65 at Medinah did this all during a US PGA Championship – Skip Kendall in 1999, Mike Weir in 2006 and Tiger Woods in winning the title, also in 2006.

"It has been a strange season just because I missed three tournaments, but the difference with this season and every other season I have won, said Thomas.

"I certainly play just as well as any other year this year. "

Americans Jim Furyk, Joel Dahmen, Lucas Glover and Brandt Snedeker are in third place right away, one shot from the lead. The tournament started in first place, and Patrick Reed, who last week The Northern Trust won.

Rory McIlroy from Northern Ireland, who started the third week in the FedEx Cup standings, is a shot farther back at three including fellow countryman Graeme McDowell.

Woods ended with a one-under 71 to make him finish 47th in the rankings and needed three strong laps to reach the Tour Championship, which he won last year.