Magnificent start for McIlroy, Lowry in contention on superb opening Masters day

The Irish big-hitters put their best foot forward on Thursday. 

PICK UP, WHERE YOU LEFT OFF: Rory McIlroy celebrates after a birdie on the 15th hole during the first round of the Masters golf tournament. Pic: AP Photo/David J. Phillip

What was with all the worry? Despite concerns about Shane Lowry’s recent heartbreak and Rory McIlroy’s back injury and competitive edge, they both posted terrific opening cards at the Masters.

Rory McIlroy’s defence of his Masters title began magnificently. He finished with a sublime five-under 67 to walk off tied for the first-round lead. It is his first sub-70 first round at The Masters since 2018.

By the time he was reaching for his half-time protein shake, the 36-year-old was two under. His first birdie of the tournament came on the second and even though he only hit one fairway on the front nine, his name was accompanied by a red number on the Augusta National classic scoreboards for the entirety of the turn.

From there, he caught fire. The talk of the course was the champion. A year after inexplicably finding Rae’s Creek on the 13th, he laid up with his wedge and made another birdie. This was a man playing with the freedom that came from 2025’s triumph. It instigated a run of three one-under holes in a row with a long birdie putt on the 15th, in particular, thrilling the patrons.

Meanwhile, Lowry finished two under but the order of his round centred on the fourth. He arrived at that classic short par four after a birdie-birdie start. A three-putt saw him score a calamitous double bogey and he dropped another stroke on the sixth.

After agonising late errors in Dubai and Florida saw victory slip from his grasp, the fear was that a bad beginning could rock him. But the Offaly man carded back-to-back birdies from eight.

“I am pretty happy,” he said.

“Obviously I got off to a great start, and I was feeling great. Then obviously I had a mishap on the fourth, and I thought I did a great job of kicking on from there.” It suddenly looked like an easy afternoon. He was chatting jovially with Jason Day about where he was staying, joking with a security guard when he was delayed on the ninth and smiling at a scoreboard operator who was a touch slow updating the panel to reflect that his group was on the hole.

This was a reminder of who he is. A player who made six cuts in his last six appearances here and was tied third in 2022. On the par-5 13th, a gorgeous wedge rolled in for eagle.

“To be honest, it has been a number that I'm not overly comfortable with or I haven't been, and I did work on it a lot over the last two weeks. It was nice to pull it off.

“I knew when it was in the air, it was really good. I knew it was going to go close, but it was nice to see it go in. It kind of gave me a little jump for the rest of the round.” 

A small frustration may have been a 22-foot putt for par that came up short on the 17th.

“Look, I spoke to this with Neil and Darren over the last few days. You know, you can hit good shots around here and make bogeys, and you just have to roll with it. My thing was is, I felt like I didn't miss a shot in the first four holes and obviously I had that mishap on the fourth green.

“You can get a bit disheartened or dejected by that, but I felt like I'm in a good frame of mind to kind of just move on and move on from everything. I've been around here enough to know that that could happen at certain stages.” It was a glorious day in Georgia and it looks set to continue until Sunday.

“I think this could be the toughest Masters we've played in a while,” said Lowry.

“You look at the forecast. They can do whatever they want with the golf course this weekend.

“I think over the last few years we've had a day every year where it has been raining. It has kind of helped us a little bit, but I think before the week is out, it is going to get very, very crusty around here.” Elsewhere, Sam Burns hit a 67 to marks his lowest opening-round in a major championship in his 23rd major appearance. It was a productive day for Jason Day, Patrick Reed and Kurt Kitayama who all registered a 3-under 69.

Yet the day belongs to McIlroy. After the honorary start on Thursday morning, Jack Nicklaus was asked about being one of three golfers to have won the Masters back-to back. What is the key to doing it?

“The key obviously is to win two years in a row,” he said with a laugh. “That's the first thing. I think Rory is the only one that's got a chance to do that this year…” Eventually, he turned serious. The last golfer to win consecutive titles was Tiger Woods in 2001 and 2002.

“Rory's got the monkey off his back, and I think he has a very, very good chance to repeat.” 

An even better chance after that start.