Stallings sets the pace in Muirfield

Golf:Scott Stallings shot his best round of the year, a six-under-par 66, to lead by one stroke at the end of the first day of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village last night. The 27-year-old has battled injury this season and had not carded a round under 70 since January.

But he carded six birdies and an eagle against two bogeys to lead by one from Spencer Levin and Erik Compton. A further two strokes back was a group of seven players on three under. “We’ve got a long way to go,” Stallings said. “I was happy to get a good round under par. I haven’t had a round under par since Saturday at Augusta. It’s been a long time.

“I’ve been really struggling with my game coming back from injury, and I was healed, I wasn’t healed, and kind of the ebbs and flows that go along with that. It’s been interesting to say the least.”

Rory McIlroy recovered from a nightmare quadruple-bogey seven on the ninth hole to climb back to put himself in the top 20 on one under. The Northern Irishman went into the tournament after missing two successive cuts for the first time in his career and handing back his world number one ranking to Luke Donald.

And for a time things looked set to go from bad to worse. McIlroy found two bunkers and the water once at the ninth, but produced a sterling recovery with two birdies and a fifth hole eagle for a final total for the round of 71, the same as Donald.

"I was just like, 'Here we go again'. But I hung in there well, and am proud of myself for the way I just fought back. To finish the round under par I thought was a really good effort." McIlroy's costly seven began when he his hit tee shot into a poor lie in the back greenside bunker, from where his second shot ended up in the water across the other side of the green.

"It finished in the one spot it couldn't, just on the down slope," he said of his tee shot at the 12th. "I had no shot. I was trying to land it just out of the bunker in the rough and let it tumble onto the green. But I had such an awkward stance, it was just hard to execute the shot. I flew it maybe a few yards too far and it went in the water on the other side."

McIlroy, who won his third PGA Tour title at the Honda Classic in March, rebounded superbly from that ominous seven with four birdies, one bogey, an eagle at the par-five fifth where he chipped in and a total of just 25 putts. With his US Open title defence set to start at the Olympic Club outside San Francisco on June 14th, he has added next week's St Jude Championship to his playing schedule in a bid to sharpen his game for the year's second major.

"I'm just seeing how it goes and seeing where this work progresses me to," McIlroy said. "It would be nice if it was fast and it was quick, but if it takes a little bit longer, I don't really mind. You know, it's all about hitting the shots I want to hit, and if it takes two weeks, it takes two weeks. If it takes a couple days, then even better, but I'm not really putting a time frame on it or anything.

"I just tried to stay patient and not even think about the score, just think about what I'm working on in my swing. I saw there was a little bit of encouragement, and to string a few good holes together on the back nine was nice."

Like McIlroy, Tiger Woods showed signs of a recovery from his recent travails as he posted a two-under-par round of 70, tarnished only by a double-bogey at the par-four 18th hole. Woods is looking for his fifth title at the Memorial but went to Ohio with few signs of form after finishing below 40th in each of his last three tournaments since winning the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill.

Ernie Els was two under and Rickie Fowler one under, while Vijay Singh and Jim Furyk were among those finishing for the day on level par, as was England’s Greg Owen. Brian Davis and Justin Rose were one over.