Tommy Fleetwood fires 64 at BMW PGA Championship after six-week break

Tommy Fleetwood bounced back from his absence from golf with a stunning 64 in the first round of the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

Teeing it up for the first time since The Open Championship at St. Andrews, the Englishman made eight birdies, including four in his last four holes, and no bogeys.

His 64 was enough for him to lead the way in Virginia Water for much of the first round which was marred by random heavy showers and brief outbreaks of sunlight.

Fleetwood took a break from golf for six weeks following the sad death of his mother and the man from Southport admitted he'd practised in his time off but hadn't been able to play extensively.

The 31-year-old, who has won five times on the DP World Tour, opted to miss the FedEx Cup Playoffs to stay with his family. He certainly felt calm and collected in front of his home crowd on Thursday.

"Six weeks off is more like two years I guess. When you stand on the first tee, you don't know what to expect no matter how well you might have been practising or playing," Fleetwood said after his round.

"It's just nice coming back. It was a lovely grouping to come back to, best friends on tour. It's nice. I played well. It's always better that I played good rather than bad. But yeah, it was just nice to be back.

"There was a score out there, just if you could put the ball in play. Obviously, with the course playing so wet, the course played wider and the ball is not bouncing and the greens were receptive and the greens rolled amazing.

"Nice seeing my dad today. It's not necessarily about the score. I was happy to be playing. Happy that I was playing with Shane and Justin. Sometimes it's more about the score; it's about the people you spend the journey with. It's weird really but it's nice to be back."

His playing partner Shane Lowry played solidly with a score of 66 while Rory McIlroy carded a 68 to sit four shots behind the leader.

Much like McIlroy, Lowry wasn't entirely happy to see the LIV Golf players tee it up this week, accusing them of causing a disruption.