AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rory McIlroy began the defense of his first Masters title with a 5-under-par 67 that gave him a share of the first-round lead with Sam Burns at Augusta National on Thursday.

It is only the third time in 18 Masters starts that McIlroy has broken 70 in the first round, and the second-lowest opening-round score he has posted, only trailing a 65 in 2011.

“Great, great start to the week, obviously. Felt like I got a lot out of my round today,” the product of Northern Ireland said. “I settled into the round nicely even when I wasn’t hitting fairways.”

Thursday’s effort tied the 5 under posted by Burns earlier in the afternoon. Both players took significant advantage of the par-5s. Burns eagled the second hole and birdied the three others, while McIlroy birdied all four of them.

“I think historically people who have success here play the par-5s really well, and we were able to do that today. So, it’s a good recipe around this golf course,” Burns said.

They enter Friday with a two-shot lead over Jason Day, Kurt Kitayama and Patrick Reed. Another shot back are four major champions in Shane Lowry, Justin Rose, Xander Schauffele and Scottie Scheffler.

By the end of the day, only 16 of the 91 players in the field finished under par, while 10 posted scores in the 80s.

Like Burns, McIlroy made his turn in 2 under before carding a 3-under 33 on the back nine courtesy of three consecutive birdies from Nos. 13-15.

McIlroy acknowledged earlier this week that last year’s victory took a “big weight” off his shoulders. And now he’s in an excellent position as he attempts to become only the fourth player to win back-to-back Masters.

McIlroy shot an opening-round 72 in 2025 that left him in a tie for 27th, and his average opening score in 17 previous Masters was 71.7. Through what he called a shaky first seven holes, a low round didn’t appear to be in the cards. Then a birdie at No. 8 led to playing his final 11 holes in 5 under.

“I feel like the way I played, 5 under sort of exceeded where I thought I would be or what I wanted to do,” he said. “I think a fair score for me today would have been like 2 under maybe with some of the places I hit it. But again, I used my head and I didn’t — I got up-and-down when I needed to. I didn’t compound mistakes.

“Again, that’s just a learning curve that you have to go through around here, and I did it well today.”

McIlroy said that in previous years he might not have been patient enough to overcome a shaky start, but last year’s victory gave him the ability to keep swinging freely rather than tentatively.

“I was nervous, I was anxious just like I always am on that first tee,” he said. “It’s the first round of the 16 most important rounds of the season. It would be worrisome if I didn’t feel that way, because it still means something to me.”

Earlier, Burns posted the best score of his Masters career in any round, besting the 68 he shot in the first round in 2023. In 12 rounds through four previous appearances at Augusta National, that had been the lone time Burns had broken 70 until Thursday.

But he doesn’t plan on spending much time dwelling on the overnight leaderboard.

“I feel like you start thinking, you know, in the past or in the future, this is not really a golf course you want to do that,” he said. “I think for me just trying to go out, execute, have a good process, commit to the shot and just be accepting of whatever happens.”

Reed also reached 5 under by eagling both par-5s on the front nine to make his turn at 31, but the 2018 Masters champion gave a shot back at No. 10 before putting a ball in the water on the par-5 15th for another bogey to enter the clubhouse at 3 under.

“All in all, there was a lot of quality golf shots,” Reed said. “I felt like I played a lot better kind of than the score today. I hit the ball pretty solid, gave myself a lot of good looks and made a couple of putts.”

England’s Rose, who lost in a playoff to McIlroy last year, was at 4 under before bogeys on each of his final two holes. Scheffler burst out of the gates with an eagle and a birdie to get to 3 under through three, but failed to pick up another shot the rest of the way while dropping one on the 11th.

“It got so firm late in the day. It was pretty challenging,” he said. “Going out late is typically going to be harder than going out early, but that’s just part of it. I get to go a little bit earlier tomorrow, so get home, get some rest, and start over.”

Kitayama finished an eventful day at 3-under 69. He reached 4 under through 10 holes before a bogey on No. 11 and a double bogey on the short par-3 12th. He was able to card birdies on two of his final four holes to get to the clubhouse among the early leaders despite having only six pars on his scorecard.

“Being able to make a lot of birdies helps especially because you’re trying to avoid the big number, but it might happen,” he said of his eight-birdie day. “I just tried to hit it in the right spots, give myself a good look, the best look that I could from wherever I was, and give myself a shot at it.”

Bryson DeChambeau, who is seeking to build on his best Masters finish of fifth place last year, was at even par entering the 11th through 13 holes, known as “Amen Corner.” He put his approach shot on No. 11 into the bunker behind the green. DeChambeau then failed to get out of the bunker on his first two attempts and ended up carding a triple bogey on the hole.

“Bunker was softer than I anticipated,” DeChambeau offered when asked about what happened on 11, adding that he hit a solid approach shot that flew 12 yards further than he wanted.

DeChambeau finished the day at 4 over following a bogey-birdie-bogey finish.

–Derek Harper, Field Level Media