Rory McIlroy was pleased with the way he overcame an early setback to remain in contention after the first round of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Ohio.
Masters champion McIlroy is playing only his sixth regular PGA Tour event of the year at the tournament which is hosted by 18-time major winner Jack Nicklaus.
He went into the water at the third for a double-bogey after pushing his approach shot right, but responded with a run of three birdies from the fifth to reach the turn at one under.
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Jordan Spieth holed a 63-foot putt, facing completely the wrong way on the sixth hole in the Memorial Tournament
A hooked tee shot off the 13th put the 37-year-old out in the deep rough on the left, but a fine recovery saw him able to save par, before a superb approach inside two feet at the 14th set up another birdie.
The 18th saw the world No 2 hit another wayward tee shot off into the left rough, narrowly missing the water, before looking to get up and down. However, he just failed to roll in a seven-foot putt to save his par and signed for a one-under 71.
“I felt like I played pretty well, for the most part,” McIlroy said. “Especially after making that double on the third hole, to play the rest of the round in three under was good.
Rory McIlroy splashes out of a bunker on his way to a one-under 71 at Muirfield Village
“I’ve made plenty of double-bogeys in my career, and I’ve made plenty of double-bogeys in tournaments that I’ve won. So you play enough events, you learn to ride the highs and the lows and not get too excited or too down either way.
“It’s a tough course. You have to concentrate on every shot. The greens are very firm already, very fast. Get yourself above the hole, it’s very tricky.
“I would like to hit a few more fairways, give myself a few more chances from the short grass, but overall, not a bad score to build from.”
Fleetwood shares first-round lead
Englishman Tommy Fleetwood made a strong start with a flawless five-under 67, featuring birdies at the first, third, fifth, ninth and 15th holes, to share the lead after the first round despite admitting to not playing at his best.
“I got the most out of the round, totally,” he said. “I got away with a couple of poor misses. Hit the pin a couple of times when it was going past. But in general I played okay, I played fine.
Tommy Fleetwood managed to keep a bogey off his card in the first round
“I just wasn’t a 100 per cent by any means with my ball control from the fairway with my irons. But still shot five under, so it couldn’t have been that bad. I was just getting a little frustrated at the end not being able to execute the iron shots that I wanted to.”
The 67 put Fleetwood at the top of the leaderboard, alongside American trio JJ Spaun, Wyndham Clark and Ryan Gerard, the latter two both getting to six under at one stage before slipping up with bogeys at the 17th.
Gerard’s round included an eagle at the seventh, which was followed by a double-bogey at the eighth and a total of eight birdies with five of them coming in succession in a hot-streak from the 12th.
Scheffler suffers on the 16th
Scottie Scheffler is back on one over after a disappointing back nine which saw him follow bogeys at the 10th and 14th with a rare double-bogey at the par-three 16th after finding water off the tee.
He did recover with a birdie at the 17th, to add to earlier gains at the fifth and seventh but has some work to do if he is to win the tournament for the third year running.
Fleetwood’s compatriot Justin Rose mixed five birdies with two bogeys in a three-under 69, with Ireland’s Shane Lowry opening with a two-under 70 after he had bogeyed the first two holes – four birdies on the back nine shooting him up the leaderboard.
Aaron Rai played alongside Scheffler as he returned to action following his PGA Championship success and matched the world No 1’s one-over 73 with a mixed bag of four bogeys and three birdies.
Watch the Memorial Tournament throughout the week live on Sky Sports, with second-round coverage starting on Friday from 12.45pm on Sky Sports+. Get Sky Sports or stream golf with no contract
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