Rory McIlroy kicks off with a 66 to take a lead in the first round of Memorial Tournament
Rory McIlroy smashed a score of 6-under par 66 to take the charge of the field at the par-72 Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio where the $6.2 million- Memorial Tournament is underway. He shared the lead with Chris Riley.
The 22-year-old Northern Irishman teed off from the back and produced a magnificent score that helped him lead the field in the start of the tournament. McIlroy utilized the sunny conditions to his favour and birdied four holes against a single bogey in the back to settle in nicely.
The quick start set the goals for the rookie for rest of the day and his plan seemed to be working out pretty well as he birdied four more holes in the front. The huge number of birdies pushed the player into lead alongside Riley, who is playing in his first tournament after 2002.
“Really happy with the way I played today,” McIlroy said while talking to the press. “Got off to a little bit of a scrappy start on my front nine, which was the back nine. Got it up-and-down a few times just to keep myself around 1- or 2-under par and then found a few birdies on the way in, which helped me - which was the bulk of my birdies. Yeah, happy with 66, a great way to start the tournament.”
This is the third round in which McIlroy kicked off with a magnificent performance. The trail leads back to the Masters in which he compiled the course lowest in the opening round and kept it vaulted until he lost his cool in the final round.
Similar course of action was witnessed in the Valero Texas Open and McIlroy had to finish in the lowest section of the leader board after leading the field in the first three rounds. Looking at the trends, a similar ending is being expected at the Memorial.
Meanwhile, Riley reeled eight birdies against two bogeys and joined the Northern Irishman in the lead. When asked to comment on his perfect start, the American said that he was surprised at the results and intended to emulate a similar performance in the coming rounds.
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