Shane Lowry motored to his lowest opening round since April and insisted he’s chasing his first win for more than three years in the BMW Championship and a chance to win the $17 million FedEx Cup bonanza in Atlanta next week.

The Offaly man was frustrated to finish a great day with a three-putt bogey at the last but at 37th in the FedEx Cup standings, he needs a big week to make the top 30 who contest next week’s Tour Championship and he wants to make it there for the first time with a chance to win the jackpot.

Scores

FedEx Cup projections

“I'm pretty happy,” said Lowry, who birdied the fourth, 10th and 12th, drained a 57-footer for an eagle three at the 14th, then stiffed his 147-yard approach to the 17th before three-putting the last from 55 feet for a five-under 66 at Wilmington Country Club in Delaware.

“Obviously a smelly finish and lunch is not going to taste as nice after that. But I feel like over the last month or so, even most of the summer, that I've been struggling to get off to good starts in tournaments.

“I’ve been playing my way back into them, but I've been grinding all week to do that. It was nice to shoot 5-under today and kind of get myself in the tournament pretty quickly.

“I wasn't shooting horrific scores or anything, just pretty average scores, around level par, one-under, one-over. It just wasn't great. That doesn't cut it on this tour.

“Hopefully I can go out and keep playing the golf I am and keep shooting good scores and give myself a chance this weekend.”

Given a 33.2pc chance by the PGA Tour’s statistical model of qualifying for East Lake, Lowry played alongside 36th-ranked Séamus Power who was three-over for the day after dropping four shots in a four-hole stretch around the turn before rallying with birdies at the 12th, 15th and 16th for a level par 71 that left him tied 39th.

Lowry was tied third in the clubhouse with Harold Varner and Justin Thomas, two shots behind Keegan Bradley, whose seven-under 64 gave him a one-shot lead over Adam Scott.

While Power was projected to fall to 43rd in the FedEx Cup, Lowry would move up to 16th if he tied for third but he’s looking for more.

“Look, I'd love to get to East Lake, but I also want to get to East Lake with a chance to kind of do something special,” he said. “If I want to do that, I need to do something very good this week, so I need a really good finish this week, and hopefully that will put me not too far off the leader going into next week, and then you never know what could happen.”

On the DP World Tour, David Carey, Cormac Sharvin and Gavin Moynihan opened with one-under 71s in the D+D Real Czech Masters in Prague.

They were tied 55th at Albatross Golf Resort, seven shots behind South Africa’s Louis de Jager, whose course record-equalling eight under par 64 gave him a one-shot lead over Thomas Pieters as Paul Dunne shot 76 and Kerryman Michael Young retired injured after 16 holes, explaining he didn’t want to force things.

At the Challenge Tour’s Dormy Open in Sweden, The Island’s Paul McBride made an eagle two and five birdies in a five-under 67 to share fifth place, just three shots behind Finland’s Lauri Ruuska.

It was McBride's lowest opening round on the Challenge Tour for nearly three years and he was pleased to play solidly.

“I played par fives very well which is important around here,” said the former Walker Cup star (26) who is 266th in the Road to Mallorca standings and desperately in need of some good results.

“I pitched in from about 25 yards for an eagle two at the 16th after mis-hitting tee shot a bit. It’s a second golf course really but the greens are firm enough so fairways are important. I was happy I was very solid.”

Ruusaka equalled the course record with a bogey-free, eight under 64 at Österåkers Golfklubb to take a two-shot lead with John Murphy, 29th in the race for 20 DP World Tour cards, and 34th ranked Ruaidhri McGee tied 73rd after level par 72s.

Holywood’s Tom McKibbin, who is 15th in the Road to Mallorca and right on track for promotion to the main tour, was 96th after a 73.