McIlroy pleased to feel 'hand shaking' on Masters return

Rory McIlroy said he was relieved to "feel my hand shaking" with nerves as he carded a five-under 67 to share the lead after the first round of his Masters defence.

Having completed the career Grand Slam with victory at Augusta National last year, Northern Ireland's world number two spoke of feeling "free" in the build-up to this year's tournament.

But reacquainting himself with major championship pressure sharpened his focus as he hit six birdies and one bogey in his lowest Masters opening round since 2011, to join American Sam Burns at the top of the leaderboard.

"We're playing the first major of the year. It's the Masters. If I felt absolutely nothing on that first tee, that's not a good sign," said McIlroy of his early nerves.

"So it was nice to feel my hand shaking a little bit when the tee went into the ground, and struggle to put the ball on top of the tee. 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.

"That feeling went away. It's not as if you feel like that the whole way around, but it was still nice to feel that on the first tee."

McIlroy said not compounding errors was key to his score-building on Thursday having birdied all four par-fives after missing the fairway.

Targeting a fast start, he was forced to stay patient as he played the first seven holes in level par before picking up five shots between the eighth and 15th holes.

While he admitted two under par would have been a "fair score" given his errant long game, he was buoyed by how he used the experience accumulated in 17 previous Masters starts to post a better score.

"I couldn't have asked for much more, especially after the way I started," the 36-year-old added, speaking to BBC Sport NI.

"In the trees on one, two, five. I'm even more pleased playing the first seven holes in even par. And then when I started to swing it a bit better, I could string some good holes together and make some birdies.

"But I definitely relied on my short game and my experience. Hopefully I hit a few more fairways [on Friday] and give myself a few more chances."

McIlroy is aiming to become just the fourth man after Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods to win back-to-back Masters.

However, he was keen to stress the need to improve his accuracy off the tee on an Augusta layout that is expected to grow increasingly tricky as the week progresses.

"The course is going to be difficult and fiery, the greens will be firm and fast," added McIlroy, whose 72 in last year's opening round left him seven shots adrift of leader Justin Rose.

"I'll have to have my wits about me and really think my way around. If I find myself in tough spots, don't compound the error, try to get it up around the green, get it up and down and move on."

Three shots adrift of McIlroy is his good friend and Ryder Cup team-mate Shane Lowry, whose 70 included four birdies, a hole-out eagle on the par-five 13th, two bogeys and a double.

"I got off to a great start and was feeling great; I had a mishap on the fourth and thought I did a great job from kicking on," said the 39-year-old Irishman, whose best Masters finish was a tie for third in 2022.

"I bogeyed six, par-saved seven and birdied eight and nine which really got me going, so I feel I plodded my way around the course nicely."

On his eagle from 99 yards on 13, Lowry said: "It's been a number I haven't been overly comfortable with. I have worked on it a lot over the past two weeks, so it was nice to pull it off.

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