At Augusta National, defending champion Rory McIlroy jumped into the lead after the first day of the Masters, along with Justin Rose, Shane Lowry and world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
Twelve months after completing his career Grand Slam, McIlroy had a dream start to becoming the first player since Tiger Woods to win back-to-back Masters titles with five birdies in eight holes en route to an opening-round 67.
Sam Burns, who set his first clubhouse goal, joins him in second place in the world standings at five under, and the pair remain tied for third place, two strokes behind Jason Day, Patrick Reed and Kurt Kitayama.
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Watch highlights from Rory McIlroy’s opening round. There he began his title defense with an impressive 5-under 67.
Rose, who finished second to McIlroy last April, was within one lead before hitting back-to-back bogeys to finish with a two-under 70, with Shane Lowry, Xander Schauffele and Scheffler also in the top three.
Only 16 players broke par in the firm, fast conditions, with Bryson DeChambeau struggling with a 4-over 76 and former champion Jon Rahm struggling with a 78 in the opening round.
McIlroy was aiming to be the only player to retain the green jacket along with Jack Nicklaus, Sir Nick Faldo and Woods, but he got off to a slow start along with Cameron Young and US Amateur champion Mason Howell, canceling an early birdie on the par-5 second with bogey.
The five-time major champion had just five fairways left off the tee on the first day, but the tide changed when he reached the turn at No. 34 with back-to-back birdies, and McIlroy hit another birdie-birdie on the par-5 13th.
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McIlroy made his third straight birdie on No. 2 and 9 at Augusta National to move into a tie for the lead.
With the next birdie, he moved to 4 under with four holes remaining. McIlroy avoided a comeback by lining up with Burns on the par-5 15th, in the same spot he was before his costly opening-round 72 last year.
McIlroy missed a birdie chance to take the sole lead on No. 17, but tied for the defending champion’s second-lowest opening round, while Burns also had a career-best round at the Masters, finishing at 5 under.
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Despite clinching the Grand Slam title, McIlroy claimed he felt as nervous during the round as he had in previous tournaments at Augusta National.
“I felt like I got a lot out of the round,” McIlroy said. “It was a pretty shaky start. I hit the first seven holes a little bit, but after the eighth hole I started stringing together some good swings and played the last 11 holes at 5 under.
“We really persevered when we needed to. Honestly, we couldn’t have gotten more out of the round. I feel like we relied heavily on our experience on the ground to do that.”
More to come…
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