Memorial Tournament: Rory McIlroy content with Muirfield after Tommy Fleetwood impresses in first round | golf news

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 in a tournament hosted by 18-time major winner Jack Nicklaus.

He pushed his approach shot right and went into the water at the third for double-bogey, but responded with three birdie runs at the fifth to reach the turn at one under.

A hooked tee shot from the 13th put the 37-year-old into the deep rough to the left, but a fine recovery saw him save par, setting up another birdie before a superb approach to within two feet at the 14th.

On the 18th the world No. 2 hit another wayward tee left rough, narrowly missing the water, before looking up and down the shot off. However, he failed to roll the 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. “It was good to play the rest of the round at three under, especially after double the third hole.

“I’ve double-bogeyed a lot in my career, and I’ve double-bogeyed a lot in tournaments that I’ve won. So you play enough events, you learn to ride high and low and not get too excited or too low.

“It’s a tough course. You have to concentrate on every shot. The greens are already very firm, very fast. Get yourself up on the hole, it’s very difficult.

“I’d like to hit a few more fairways, give myself a few more chances from the short grass, but overall, not a bad score to make from it.”

Fleetwood shared the first round lead

Englishman Tommy Fleetwood got off to a strong start with an unblemished five-under 67 featuring birdies on the first, third, fifth, ninth and 15th holes, despite admitting not playing his best to share the lead after the first round.

“I got the most out of the round, absolutely,” he said. “I got away with a couple of bad misses. The pin hit a couple of times when it was going in. But generally I played OK, I played well.

“I was by no means 100 percent in control of my ball from the fairway with my irons. But still shot five under, so it can’t be that bad. I was a little disappointed that I couldn’t execute the iron shots I wanted to make.”

A 67 put Fleetwood at the top of the leaderboard with the American trio of JJ Spahn, Wyndham Clarke and Ryan Gerrard, the latter two reaching six under at one point before slipping away with a bogey at the 17th.

Gerard’s round included an eagle at the seventh, followed by a double-bogey at the eighth and eight birdies in total, including five in a row in a hot-streak from the 12th.

Scheffler suffered on the 16th

Scottie Scheffler bounced back to one over after a disappointing back nine that saw him follow bogeys at the 10th and 14th after finding the water off the tee with a rare double-bogey at the par-three 16th.

He recovered with a birdie at the 17th to add to earlier gains at the fifth and seventh but will have some work to do to win the tournament for the third year running.

Fleetwood compatriot Justin Rose mixed five birdies with two bogeys in a three-under 69, Ireland’s Shane Lowry opened with a two-under 70 after bogeying the first two holes – four birdies on the back nine put him on the leaderboard.

Aaron Rae played Scheffler as he returned to action after his PGA Championship success and matched the world number one over 73 with a mixed bag of four bogeys and three birdies.

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