McIlroy and Quiros co-lead after round one at The Masters

CP

Rory McIlroy became the youngest first round leader in Masters tournament history, opening with a 7-under 65 on Thursday which was only matched late in the day by Spain's Alvaro Quiros.

Taking advantage of perfect conditions for scoring, McIlroy started rolling at the par-5 second with the first of three straight birdies, and kept it going through a bogey-free round.

It was the first time in six rounds at Augusta that McIlroy has managed to break 70.

"It's nice to come out here and shoot a really good round and get into the 60s and get that little monkey off my back and get go into the next three rounds in a positive frame of mind," said McIlroy.

Last year, McIlroy finished third at both the PGA Championship and British Open, shooting an opening-round 63 in the latter before taking himself out of contention with a second round 80. While the conditions this week will be infinitely better than what he faced on day two at St. Andrews, McIlroy says he feels better prepared to deal with any adversity.

"Looking back, it was probably very valuable in my progression as a golfer."

Quiros, who has missed the cut in two previous Masters, had never posted a round better than 75 at Augusta. Four birdies over the final six holes gave the five-time European Tour winner a share of the lead.

Korean's Y.E. Yang and K.J. Choi find themselves two off the pace after shooting 67. Yang, a former PGA Champion, took aim at McIlroy's lead with an eagle on No. 13 and birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 until back-to-back bogeys on the final two holes.

Choi recorded birdies on five of the final six holes to put him in contention.

Matt Kuchar, the leading money winner on the PGA Tour last year, and Ricky Barnes each had six birdies and two bogeys on the way to a 68.

Defending champion Phil Mickelson bogeyed the final hole of the day for a 70. It was his first bogey at Augusta since the third round of last year's tournament.

Tiger Woods isn't anywhere near the lead, but he's not totally out of it either after day one. Mired in the longest winless streak of his career, he used back-to-back birdies on Nos. 13 and 14 to get back into red numbers after an opening round 1-under 71.

"I'm right there in the ballgame," Woods said. "I hit a lot of beautiful putts. They were just skirting the edge. Hopefully, they'll start to go in."

"I would rather be where Rory's at. But, hey, it's a long way to go. We have a long grind ahead of us."

Mike Weir continues to struggle off the tee, hitting just 5 of 14 fairways on the way to a 76 - his worst opening round at Augusta since a 79 in 2004.

"It's definitely physical things," said Weir. "When you go to work on something you work on quite a few little things, but when you play you have to think of one or two. If you have three or four or five things [to think about] it gets a little harder, so I'm trying to narrow it down to one or two things that I can play with and I haven't been able to figure out what that key is."

Augusta continued to torment world number one Martin Kaymer. The German - who has missed the cut in all three of his previous Masters - struggled to a 6-over 78, his worst score to date. He'll have to shoot in the 60s Friday - something he's never done at Augusta - to have any chance of making it to the weekend.

"There's some golf courses that suit you and some, they just don't," said Kaymer, who seemed resigned to his fate.

Lee Westwood, a runner-up last year, opened with an even par 72.