Rory McIlroy holds a share of the lead after day one of The Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.
The Northern Irish ace shot an opening-round 66 to join Chris Riley at the summit after 18 holes, one shot ahead of American pair Chris DiMarco and Josh Teater.
McIlroy admits this course is one of his favourites on the PGA Tour and it showed on Thursday as he quickly registered his first birdie of the day at the par-four third. The 22-year-old then hit a hot streak before the turn with three successive birdies from the sixth hole to the eighth, and he picked up another shot at the par-five 11th as a good score appeared to be on the cards. McIlroy then stumbled at the 13th but that bogey was the only black mark on his scorecard as the Northern Irishman responded immediately with birdies at the 14th and 15th to finish six-under.
Also on six-under is American Riley who also hit a hot streak throughout at the day, carding eight birdies and two bogeys to end the day just ahead of DiMarco and Teater.
There is a logjam of eight American players right behind them on four under; Rickie Fowler, Steve Stricker, Rocco Mediate, Matt Bettencourt, Ricky Barnes, Dustin Johnson, Stewart Cink, Bryce Molder and Scott Stallings.
New world number one Luke Donald is two shots further back, but he could have been higher up the leaderboard had he not slipped up at the 18th. The Englishman found the greenside bunker on his way to a costly double-bogey that, along with two bogeys, ate into the six birdies he had holed in a first-day 70.
Donald is joined on two-under by Players Championship winner KJ Choi, while defending Memorial Tournament champion Justin Rose is one-under after shooting four birdies and three bogeys. And Phil Mickelson is level-par, alongside US Masters winner Charl Schwartzel, after an interesting nine-hole stint that saw him make three birdies, two bogeys and a double-bogey.
