Rory McIlroy, the second-ranked golfer in the Official World Golf Ranking, is currently tied for the lead in Avondale as he and teammate Shane Lowry finished with an 11-under 61 in the first round of the Zurich Classic.
The European team is tied with three other teams, as Ryan Brehm/Mark Hubbard, Ben Kohles/Patton Kizzire, and David Lipsky/Aaron Rai all shot a 61 on the opening day.
Former McNeese golfer Robert Macintyre, teamed with Thomas Detry, is currently one stroke back at -10.
Collin Morikawa and Kurt Kityama played the course with Mcilroy and Lowry on Thursday and finished the day -6.
2022 champion duo Patrick Cantlay and Xander Schauffele also returned to TPC Louisiana and played together once again, finishing with a score of 65 in Round One.
Alex and Matt Fitzpatrick were one of the other key pairings in the only team-style event in the PGA Tour, finishing -6 on the day.
However, the story of the day may have been the alligator that strolled onto the 17th tee box and caused a seven-minute delay in the tournament.
“You know that you sort of need to get off to a good start, and thankfully we did,” said McIlroy after his Zurich Classic debut. “I don’t know if I knew what to expect. I’ve watched this tournament a little bit over the years on TV, heard some good things from some of the players. It’s nice to come here, team up with a really good friend, and if we play a good round tomorrow, it’ll be awesome to be in contention for the weekend and try to get a win on the PGA TOUR with a friend beside me.”
“I definitely felt today I was less hard on myself than I’ve been in the last few weeks when I hit a couple of bad shots,” Lowry added. “It’s nice to know you’ve got Rory McIlroy backing you up. But yeah, I definitely feel like there’s a nice vibe out there with the two of us. We know each other’s games so well. We’ve played a lot of golf. We play a lot of golf at home together, and we just know each other so well.”
Friday’s second round will be an alternating shot format.