McIlroy Tied for Lead at Augusta After Impressive Opening Round

Rory McIlroy, the defending champion, made a strong start to his bid for back-to-back Masters titles, sharing the lead with Sam Burns after the first day at Augusta National. McIlroy carded a 67, which included five birdies in an eight-hole stretch, to finish five under par. He is joined at the top by Burns, who set the early clubhouse target, with the pair holding a two-shot advantage over Jason Day, Patrick Reed, and Kurt Kitayama. Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, and world number one Scottie Scheffler are also in contention, despite struggling with the firm and fast conditions that saw only 16 players break par. Bryson DeChambeau, meanwhile, had a disastrous start, carding a four-over 76, while former champion Jon Rahm stuttered to a 78. McIlroy, who is looking to become the first player to retain the Green Jacket since Tiger Woods, found momentum after a slow start, with successive birdies helping him reach the turn in 34. He then started a fresh birdie burst by taking advantage of the par-five 13th, before another birdie at the next took him to four under with four holes to play. McIlroy avoided a repeat of last year's expensive finish, taking advantage of the par-five 15th to pull level with Burns. 'I felt like I got a lot out of my round,' McIlroy said. 'It started pretty scrappy, but I started to string some good swings together from the eighth hole onwards and played those last 11 in five under. I stayed really patient when I needed to. Honestly, I couldn't have got a lot more out of my round.' Kitayama briefly held the solo lead after four birdies in a five-hole stretch, before recovering from dropping three shots in two holes to card a three-under 69. Reed, who eagled both par-fives on the first nine, is also on the same score, despite leading at one point. Scheffler threatened the clubhouse target after an eagle-birdie run, but played the rest of his round in one over to slip three off the leaders. Rose, a three-time runner-up at Augusta National, sits tied-sixth after carding five birdies and three bogeys, while Lowry recovered from being over-par after seven holes to also get back to two under. Aaron Rai is among the group on one under as he bids to become the first player to claim the Masters Par 3 Contest and major victory in the same week. DeChambeau's triple-bogey seven at the 11th left him nine strokes adrift, while Rahm is tied-73rd after failing to register a birdie on the opening day.