Adam Scott surges into BMW Championship lead with stunning bogey-free 63

The Australian hit nine birdies in his bogey-free round to finish three shots clear of first-round leader Keegan Bradley at Castle Pines, near Denver.

Scott, the 2020 Masters champion, found five of his birdies in the closing seven holes to put distance between himself and the chasing pack heading into the weekend.

"It's been a long time. I can't remember the last time I shot a 63 out here," Scott told pgatour.com.

"But it feels good to go low, that I've still got that in me. Hopefully, there's one more this week."

Sweden's Ludvig Aberg matched Scott's 63 to put himself in contention, four shots back from the leader, with Sweden's Alex Noren a shot further back.

"The course is gettable. Felt like I was hitting it well. I was hitting a lot of fairways, and then you can be quite aggressive into the greens," Aberg said.

World number one Scottie Scheffler, who leads the FedEx Cup standings ahead of the Tour Championship finale at East Lake next week, cut a frustrated figure as he could only shoot an even-par 72 and head into the weekend tied for 29th.

Rory McIlroy and Tommy Fleetwood are tied for 15th on three under par.

Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, who won the FedEx St Jude last week to move third in the FedEx Cup standings, was forced to withdraw ahead of the second round due to lower back pain.