Golf: Danny Lee recovers from shocking start to keep Tour Championship hopes alive

Danny Lee. Photo / AP

Danny Lee has recovered from an early triple bogey to stay in with a chance of progressing to the richest tournament in golf.

The 30-year-old Kiwi shot a three-over 73 on the opening day of the BMW Championship to sit six shots off the lead at the penultimate PGA Tour playoff event.

A triple bogey six on his fourth hole saw him drop to dead last on four-over par in the 70-player field, but Lee managed to hole two birdies before dropping a shot on his 17th hole to sit in a tie for 35th.

Lee needs a big result this week to qualify among the top 30 players who will advance to next week's Tour Championship in Atlanta. He is 46th on the live FedEx Cup standings.

Only three players shot under par at the Chicago event, with Hideki Matsuyama leading at three-under by one stroke over Tyler Duncan.

Dustin Johnson, who leads the FedEx Cup standings after his win last week, shot one-over to sit in a share of 14th place.

Johnson, who won The Northern Trust last week at 30-under par, was told that even three straight rounds of 60 would not be enough to reach 30 under at Olympia Fields.

"Yeah, but I would win," he said.

By a landslide, no doubt.

Tiger Woods needs to finish around fourth to have any hope of returning to East Lake next week in Atlanta to chase the NZ $22.5 million bonus for the FedEx Cup winner. He was hovering around even par a few shots out of the lead. He finished with three straight bogeys for a 73.

In the mix, at even par, was Mexico's Carlos Ortiz, notable because he was the latest player to be grouped with Woods for the first time. He raved about how Woods controls the flight of his irons, but missed out on the massive crowd because there are no spectators, only carts carrying the broadcast crew.

"It's probably the least amount of people he's played in front of," Ortiz said, "and the most for me."

On the European Tour, Kiwi Ryan Fox shot a one-under opening round to sit in a share of 35th at the UK Championship, seven shots behind leader Justin Walters.

Lydia Ko will start her first day of the NW Arkansas Championship on the LPGA Tour shortly after midnight tonight.

- With AP