McIlroy shares the lead at Muirfield

Golf:Rory McIlroy shares the lead at the Memorial Tournament after he and American Chris Riley produced opening rounds of 66. A shot behind McIlroy and Riley were Chris DiMarco and Josh Teater after 67s while a group of nine on four under included Rickie Fowler and Stewart Cink.

McIlroy is the only non-American in the top 20 after the first day following his six-under-par performance, which saw him birdie three holes in a row from the sixth to draw level with Riley.

“I was really happy with the way I played today,” McIlroy said. “I got off to a little bit of a scrappy start on my front nine, which was the back nine. I got it up and down a few times just to keep myself around one or two under par and then found a few birdies on the way in, which was the bulk of my birdies.

“I’m happy with 66, it’s a great way to start the tournament. This is one of my favourite weeks of the year and one of my favourite golf courses.

“I feel as if it really does set up well for me. I like these sort of golf courses, the likes of here and Akron and Quail Hollow, and I sort of feel as if I’m pretty comfortable on courses like that.

“I’m swinging well, I’m hitting it good, and I’m holing a few putts, so hopefully I can keep it going for the next three days.”

While the sight of McIlroy at the top of the leaderboard came as no surprise to anyone, the presence of Riley raised a few eyebrows. The 37-year-old had missed the cut in his three previous starts at Muirfield Village, never once breaking par.

"I really putted good," Riley said after totalling only 25 putts. "I made a lot of nice par saves. I made one on six, my 15th hole, from like 20 feet for par and on the first hole I made about a 15-footer for par. It was just one of those days where everything was going in the hole, and it felt pretty good to see that."

World number one Luke Donald recovered from an opening nine of two-over 38 to card a six-birdie 70 while Phil Mickelson returned a 72.

Donald's low point came with a double-bogey at the par-four 18th, his ninth hole, where his approach ended up in a bunker and he needed two more shots to reach the green.

"I hit a great eight-iron right at the pin and it came up maybe two yards short of being perfect and kicked back in the middle of the trap," the Englishman said. "I just got a little bit too cute.

"I hit a poor bunker shot, another poor chip and lipped out the (bogey) putt. So taking four from literally 20 feet wasn't what I was hoping for."