McIlroy grabs share of Masters lead as Augusta shows its fangs
Masters champion Scottie Scheffler of the United States plays a stroke on the No. 17 hole during the first round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club, Thursday, April 09, 2026.
Rory McIlroy took up where he left off 12 months ago and grabbed a share of the lead as the final round of the Masters broke out on Thursday and Augusta National showed its fangs right from the start.
Embracing his first-round nerves like a man who had never won the Masters, the Holywood star overcame a ragged start and made five birdies in his last 11 holes to shoot 67 and share top spot with American Sam Burns.
Their five-under-par rounds left them two shots clear of Jason Day, Kurt Kitayama and 2018 champion Patrick Reed.
But with the course drying out as the day went on and the playing as firm and fast as it would be on Sunday afternoon in a fiery masters week, there were a host of first-round casualties.
While Shane Lowry overcame a four-putt double bogey at the fourth and regrouped impressively to shoot a patient 70 to share sixth with Xander Schauffele, Justin Rose and Scottie Scheffler, some of the pre-tournament favourites blew themselves out of the tournament.
Bryson DeChambeau shot 76, Jon Rahm didn’t make a birdie in a 78 while Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre made a quadruple bogey nine at the 15th en route to an 80.
That Sergio Garcia was the best of the LIV Golf crew with a level par 72 said it all.
Even José María Olazábal (60) fared better than Rahm, carding a 74.
“Great start to the week obviously,” said McIlroy, who is trying to join Jack Nicklaus (1965 & 1966), Nick Faldo (1989 & 1990) and Tiger Woods (2001 & 2002) and become just the fourth player to win the Masters in consecutive years.
“Felt like I got a lot out of my round today. It started pretty scrappy. I was hitting out of the trees a little bit the first seven holes and then started to string some good swings together from the 8th hole onwards. Played those last 11 in five under.”
He admitted his hand was shaking as he struggled to tee his ball at the first but felt that was a good sign.
“If I felt absolutely nothing on that first tee, that's not a good sign,” he said. “So I knew I was feeling it. That's a good thing.
“That's why we want to be here. We want to be able to try to play our best golf when we're feeling like that.
“I settled into the round nicely, even when I wasn't hitting fairways. I was trying to just get it up around the green and rely on my short game to get it up-and-down and move on.
“That's a big part of what you have to do around this golf course.
“Stayed really patient when I needed to. Then, as I said, I made some good swings and played a good stretch of holes there to finish up the round.”
He’s the seventh reigning champion to hold a share of the first round lead in his title defence but Nicklaus (1966) is the only player to go on to win.
Gary Player lost in a playoff in 1962, Jordan Spieth (2016) and Arnold Palmer (1961) tied for second, Jack Burke Jr was joint seventh in 1957 while Jose Maria Olazábal was 14th in 1995.
Olazabal shot 74 and outscored Rahm by four.
The big Basque said he had no excuses for his score, but he wasn’t giving up hope of turning things around and even getting back into the tournament.
“It's a hard golf course,” Rahm said. “Some of the players might have been able to manage a respectable round, but when you have no feel with the swing whatsoever, it's just not an easy one.
“Hopefully, get some physio, get some dinner, get something positive going in that sense. Tomorrow is a new day.”
Rose bogeyed his last two holes for his 70, but he was still pleased as the course turned from deep green to an almost yellowish hue as the day wore on.
“You might get a yellow jacket if you win,” Rose joked before insisting the leaderboard was irrelevant given the difficulty of what lies ahead.
"I think the lead at this point is irrelevant. I think there's so much golf ahead that there's no point in even looking at who is doing what at this moment in time.”
McIlroy is on top, but he’s bracing himself for a tough challenge,
“When these greens get fast -- last year they got really fast and firm on Sunday, but I think you're going to see that for the next three days,” he said. “There's still opportunities to shoot really, really good scores. “Look at Justin Rose last year on the final day. But it takes a very, very good, solid round of golf to do that.”
Debutant Tom McKibbin admitted his lack of experience was costly, but he was not too displeased to open with a three-over 75.
The Newtownabbey youngster (23) turned in level par as he mixed bogeys at the first and sixth with birdies at the second and ninth.
While he came through Amen Corner unscathed, he three-putted the. 14th and 16th and dropped another shot at the 17th to end the day tied for 48th.
“Yeah, it was tough,” he said. “The golf course feels like it plays completely different than even yesterday.
“The greens are firm and very fast. Some of the putts you get are just incredibly difficult, incredibly fast. It's just very difficult. It feels like it's hard to make birdies but very easy to make bogeys.
“So overall it was an okay day. I'll take it. Maybe a little bit of lack of experience here or there, but overall it was okay.”
The greens proved the biggest challenge to McKibbin, who played well from tee to green got caught out by the pace on the greens.
“Just maybe a few of the longer putts,” he said. “They’re obviously uphill and you think they're going to be slow based off the last couple and they're not slow.”
While he was never comfortable, he still enjoyed the round and hopes to play the par fives better on Friday and boost his chances of making the cut.
“The golf course is so difficult,” he said. “I feel like on every shot there’s danger lurking around. It’s hard to feel comfortable. Yeah, once I sort of got into the round today, it felt quite nice.”
