Only the weather could stop Jason Day at the BMW Championship on Thursday.
Day began his latest quest to reach No. 1 in the world by holing out from a fairway bunker for eagle and powering his way to nine birdies. The PGA champion was 10-under par through 17 holes when the first round at Conway Farms was halted because of approaching storms.
Day had just hammered a tee shot 346 yards with the wind at his back, leaving him 44 yards to the hole at No. 9. He needed to hole that shot for a 59, and he had to wait until Friday morning for that. The round was to resume at 7:30 a.m.
He was four shots ahead of PGA Tour rookie Daniel Berger, who had a 6-under 65.
Jordan Spieth had a hole-in-one and followed with a chip-in from 80 feet for birdie to get his game on track. He was at 5 under.
It was the best show of the PGA Tour's postseason, even for a Thursday that was interrupted by a dark and stormy sky north of Chicago. The group of Day, Spieth and Rickie Fowler - Nos. 1-2-3 in the FedEx Cup - attracted an enormous gallery and the players delivered one great shot after another.
Fowler, coming off his third win of the year at the TPC Boston two weeks ago, must have felt like a third-wheel at the end, though he produced four straight birdies on his front nine. When they made the turn, the hits kept coming.
Day's power was evident on the 600-yard eighth, into a strengthening wind. He hit his tee shot 305 yards, and then hit 3-wood high and into the wind just over a bunker to the collar of the green. His chip for eagle narrowly missed.
