McIlroy Tied for Lead at Augusta After Impressive Opening Round

Rory McIlroy, the defending champion, surged into a share of the lead on the opening day of The Masters, joined by Justin Rose, Shane Lowry, and world number one Scottie Scheffler, all in contention at Augusta National. McIlroy's bid to become the first back-to-back winner at The Masters since Tiger Woods got off to a dream start, with five birdies in an eight-hole stretch, posting an opening-round 67. He is tied with Sam Burns, who set the initial clubhouse target, holding a two-shot lead over Jason Day, Patrick Reed, and Kurt Kitayama. Meanwhile, Bryson DeChambeau struggled with a four-over 76, and former champion Jon Rahm had a disappointing opening round of 78. McIlroy found momentum after a slow start, with successive birdies helping him reach the turn in 34, and he continued his strong play with another birdie at the 14th, taking 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. The five-time major champion missed a birdie opportunity for the solo lead at the 17th but equalled the second-lowest opening round by a defending champion. 'I felt like I got a lot out of my round,' McIlroy said. 'It started pretty scrappy, but I stayed really patient when I needed to.' Kitayama briefly held the solo lead after four birdies in a five-hole stretch, then recovered from dropping three shots in two holes of Amen Corner to card a three-under 69. 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 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 took three attempts to get out of a greenside bunker on his way to a triple-bogey seven at the 11th, leaving him nine strokes adrift, while Rahm is tied-73rd in a 91-man field after failing to register a birdie on the opening day.