RORY HAS TWO EAGLES, SEVEN BIRDIES AND A DOUBLE BOGEY

 McILROY LEADS BY THREE WITH A 63

IN MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT OPENER

FROM THE US PGA TOUR WEBSITE
DUBLIN, Ohio -- Four days and roughly 3,800 miles travelled across the Atlantic Ocean certainly brought a change of scenery for Rory McIlroy. But once he got on the golf course, it was more of the same.
And we mean that in the best possible way.
The young Northern Irishman, who won the BMW PGA Championship on Sunday atWentworth, finds himself on the top of another leaderboard Thursday after firing a 63 in the first round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance in central Ohio.
McIlroy, who was two shots off John Huston's Muirfield Village course record, had seven birdies, two eagles and one double bogey in his round of 9 under. He came home in a sizzling 31, as well, to grab a three-stroke advantage in the Jack Nicklaus event.
McIlroy said he felt like the inter-continental travel may have actually worked in his favour.    
"Monday seemed like a long day and it just sort of felt like when I got here it was just a different tour," McIlroy said. 
"You're getting ready for the U.S. Open. It's a big tournament, the Memorial in itself.
"And I prepared well. I came here early Tuesday morning, practised, did a good session on the range yesterday after the pro-am in the afternoon, so I've been putting a lot of work in, and it seems to be paying off."

All this happened despite the fact that McIlroy tweaked his left knee while hitting his second shot on the seventh hole. A week ago it was McIlroy's back that got out of whack after the second round but he managed to play through the pain with great success.
"I wear spikes, so sometimes your foot can get stuck in the ground and you can torque your knee a little too much," McIlroy said.
"I think that's what I did, I tweaked it. The inside of it is sore, it's a little swollen. I'll go see the physio and get some treatment and get ice on it, and hopefully it will be OK for tomorrow."
Paul Casey, Chris Kirk and two-time Masters champ Bubba Watson, all of whom played in the morning wave, are tied for second after shooting 66s. Keegan Bradley, Michael Thompson and J.B. Holmes are another stroke behind.
McIlroy was particularly adept with his putter, using just 22 putts to lead the field. He ranked first in strokes gained-putting (6.301) and driving distance with an average of 293 yards while being tied for first in distance of putts made.
McIlroy, who has top-10 finishes in his last four starts on the US PGA Tour, also hit 10 of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens in regulation.
"This has been coming," McIlroy said. "It's been coming. My performances have been really good, been shooting really good scores.  There's just been runs of holes in tournaments where I haven't played so well and I've shot it 4 or 5 over in the space of nine holes, and that's really just derailed my tournament.
"Last week (in England) I didn't do that. And that's down to nothing more than hitting good golf shots and hitting good putts and limiting my mistakes whenever I get in trouble on the golf course."

FIRST ROUND LEADERBOARD
Par 72. Players from USA unless stated
63 Rory McIlroy (N Ireland)
66 Paul Casey (England), Chris Kirk, Bubba Watson.
67 Keegan Bradley, Michael Thompson, J B Holmes.
68 Hunter Mahan, Ryan Moore, Justin Leonard.

SELECTED SCORES
69 Jordan Spieth, Adam Scott (Australia) (T11)
70 Ernie Els (S Africa) (T21)
71 Luke Donald (England), Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark), Freddie Jacobson (Sweden) (T28)
72 Brian Davis (England), Phil Mickelson (T45)
73 Russell Knox (Scotland), Justin Rose (England), Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano (Spain) (T64)
76 Nicolas Colsaerts (Belgium) (T110).
78 Martin Laird (Scotland) (T117)

TO VIEW ALL THE SCORES

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