US Open: Rory McIlroy starts strongly at Pinehurst

Matthieu Pavon -3 (67)
Bryson DeChambeau -3 (16)

Selected others:

Shane Lowry +4 (15)

65 for McIlroy! He's on top of the leaderboard.

He's on top of the leaderboard at the US Open after holing a twenty footer for birdie on the last. He knew from six feet out the putt was dropping, walking after it into the cup.

That's been a brilliant round of golf from Rory. He barely put a foot wrong all day with his tee-shots on the money and his irons as consistent as they've ever been.

He didn't record a bogey all day and played the sort of solid golf that this course demands. It's only Thursday but he'll be hoping he can keep this sort of momentum up into Friday.

McIlroy sets up birdie opportunity on 18

With his playing partner Scottie Scheffler having overshot the flag, Rory shows him how to do it with a floated wedge into about 15 foot. He's been consistent right through a a fine round of golf and he now has this to join Cantlay at the top.

Rory and Scottie find the fairway on eighteen. Birdie opportunities coming up now for the boys, with Rory hoping to join Cantlay up top.

Par for McIlroy on 17

He gets down in two from twenty feet. Scottie Scheffler saw where his playing partner went wrong, heeded the lessons and nailed his birdie putt to get back to +1.

Seamus Power and Tom McKibbin give the lowdown to Brian Keogh on their opening rounds of 71 and 74 here.

Not bad on 17

Rory lands a lovely approach in the middle of the 17th green. It's a long, 207 yard par three but he makes light work of it with another nice iron.

Re-live his bird on 16 here.

YES RORY!

That was never in doubt. The 16th is renowned as one of the toughest holes on the course but after a lovely drive and a perfect approach shot, he drops the birdie putt to move to within one of the lead.

It's been absolutely brilliant from McIlroy so far, with no bogeys and four birdies on the card.

There's also some good news for Shane Lowry, who has made his first birdie of the day on 14.

Scheffler's woes continue

The driver did the damage again and this time his short game doesn't bail him out. Back to +2 for him.

Beautiful from McIlroy on 16

After a long delay looking at his playing partners plotting their way out of trouble after bad tee-shots, Rory finally gets the chance to step-up.

He nails a beauty of an iron shot into ten foot. Big birdie opportunity coming up.

Former champ on the match

Martin Kaymer was the winner the last time Pinehurst hosted the US Open and he's moving quietly into contention today, with two birdies and no bogeys on the card.

Bryson takes the scenic route to a birdie

He gets a favourable drop after a wild tee shot on the Par Five fifth. He takes full advantage by making birdie on the hole, moving to just one shot off Patrick Cantlay's lead.

Rory finds another fairway on 16

It's a long and tough hole but Rory's 343 yarder puts him in position A1. 170 yards to the pin.

Scottie Scheffler is in bother again and he'll do well to scramble his way out of this one. There appears to be trees blocking his path to the green.

Bad to worse for Shane

He's back to +5 after another bogey on 12. His approach shot is long and off target and he fails to get up and down. 

Having carded an 85 last Sunday at Muirfield, he was never going to be full of confidence and his struggles have unfortunately continued.

McIlroy lags a lovely putt to tap-in distance on 15. It's a fifth par in a row for him.

High standards.

Rory's not happy. He was going for the fade on 14, gets a draw instead and throws away his tee in frustration. But if he's unhappy with that it shows the level he's playing at because again, it's twenty five foot from the pin.

Well done Rory

He holes the one back to continue the blemish-free round. It was a tester, but he's passing every test so far.

Work-to-do for McIlroy

A sloppy putt on fourteen gives him a tricky five footer back for par. He told it to sit, the ball didn't listen and rolled past. 

Good play from McIlroy on 14

He hits a better wedge this time around, curling a high draw into twenty feet.

From a more difficult position, Scottie Scheffler continues to scramble in style as he leaves his ball beside McIlroy's.

Lowry's struggles continue

He's yet to find a birdie out there and he drops another shot to go back to +4 after eleven.

Safe as a house off the tee on 14

McIlroy's display of ball-striking continues. He draws a low drive into the heart of it which is in direct contrast to his usually unflappable playing partner.

Whereas McIlroy is hitting the majority of fairways, Scheffler has only hit five. He hooks another one, this time into the crowd putting himself on the back foot once again.

He doesn't look happy but he has been scrambling well, and there's no irrevocable damage yet.

On the other side of the coin, the in-form Bryson DeChambeau has only missed one fairway all day.