The Memorial Tournament 2014: Rory McIlroy goes low, leads at 9-under

While he’s currently ranked sixth in the world rankings, Rory McIlroy certainly appears to have recaptured his No. 1 form from 2012. McIlroy shot a final round 66 to win the BMW PGA Championship last week and picked up right where he left off, blistering Muirfield Village for an opening round 63 at the Memorial Tournament. He sits atop the leaderboard, three strokes clear of the field.

McIlroy has played well all season, so the performance on Thursday shouldn’t come as a major surprise. He had all facets of his game working, playing well from tee to green and putting exceptionally well. He carded four birdies on the front nine to make the turn in 32. A birdie at No. 10 and an eagle at No. 11 moved him to 7-under through 11 and put him in range to challenge a sub-60 round.

McIlroy didn’t hit very many poor shots on the day, but his approach shot at No. 14 was one of them. He pulled his iron shot and was unfortunate to land in an impossible lie in the bunker. Up against the lip and buried, McIlroy didn’t have a shot to the green and was instead forced to hit away from the pin, just to get a better bunker attempt.

His second attempt from the bunker wasn’t very good and he settled for a double bogey, his only dropped shots of the day. He rebounded immediately, however, draining another long putt at No. 15 for his second eagle of the day. He followed that up with another birdie to move to 9-under. The round would have been impressive regardless of circumstances, but became even more so when you consider McIlroy tweaked his knee at No. 7 and played much of the round in pain. He was noticeably limping after several shots and spent a few holes rubbing and stretching his knee. After the round he said he wasn’t sure what happened, but was able to stretch it out and play through it.

Assuming the knee injury isn’t anything serious, McIlroy will begin the second round with a three-stroke lead. Bubba Watson is tied for second place at 6-under while Keegan Bradley is four back at 5-under. For much of the round, it appeared Phil Mickelson would be near the top of the leaderboard heading into Friday. He was 5-under through 15 before things completely unraveled. Mickelson’s tee shot at the par-3 16th round the water hazard, leaving him to scramble for a bogey. It got worse on the 17th and 18th with Mickelson carding back-to-back double bogeys to come in at 5-over on his final three holes to finish even par.

Here is a complete look at the leaderboard through the first 18 holes at Muirfield Village: