CHERRY HILLS VILLAGE — After getting to 5-under-par with six holes to play, Rory McIlroy bogeyed two of his final three holes to drop into a three-way tie for the lead Thursday in the first round of the BMW Championship.
Play was suspendded at 5:50 p.m. because of lightning, and the nine players still on the course will resume at 11 a.m. Friday to complete the first round.
McIlroy, who started on the back nine, made the turn in 2-under then birdie Nos. 1, 2 and 3 to start the front and get to 5-under.
However, he bogeyed Nos. 7 and 8 before finishing his round on No. 9 with a par.
“It’s tricky. These greens are so much firmer,” McIlroy said.
That was the first-round sentiment for a number of players.
Gary Woodland, who is tied with McIlroy at 3-under, said the greens “are concrete out there.”
Woodland was 3-under on the back nine after starting on No. 10. He got to 4-under with a birdie on No. 2 but gave it back with a bogey-5 on No. 4.
Also finishing at 3-under was 21-year-old Jordan Spieth, who played at Cherry Hills in the 2012 U.S. Amateur.
There are nine golfers tied at 2-under, including K.J. Choi who opened the back with three consecutive birdies to also get to 3-under but gave back a shot on No. 18 to make his turn at 2-under.
Henrik Stenson is in the group at 2-under but was among those who did not finish. The Swede started on the back nine and was at 3-under before a bogey on the par-3 No. 8. He has to finish No. 9 on Friday morning.
Ernie Els, who was in the first group going off No. 1, bogeyed the par-4, but came back with an eagle-2 on No. 3, the 333-yard par-4 with a tough green. He is even through 16 holes.
The crowds flowed in Thursday as soon as the gates opened at 10 a.m. for the first 11:20 a.m. tee time. The weather is noticably cooler than the past two days for the practice rounds when temperatures were in the 90s.
BMW Championship officials said Thursday that Sunday’s round is soldout, and Saturday is close to capacity.
They are expecting about 31,000 fans for the final round, which ends just a few hours before the Broncos open their season at Sports Authority Field, against the Colts.
The 69-main field will be trimmed to 30 after Sunday’s round, and they will advance to the PGA Tour season-ending Tour Championship next week in Atlanta.
David Krause: 303-954-1893, dkrause@denverpost.com or twitter.com/DavidKrause