Rory McIlroy satisfied with 'solid' start to Masters campaign

Rory McIlroy was content with his three-under-par 69 in the opening round of the Masters which put him in a tie for fourth place.

The Northern Irishman carded four birdies and just one bogey as he made his best start at Augusta National since 2011, leaving him three shots behind early pace-setter Jordan Spieth.

McIlroy rattled in a birdie at the opening hole but then recorded five successive pars before his only blemish at the seventh.

He then took advantage of the three remaining par-fives - the eighth, 13th and 15th - with birdies at all three, including an up-and-down at the 13th which he described as the best he had made all year.

"I feel good. I played a really solid round of golf," said McIlroy.

"I didn't make many mistakes, just the one bogey. I birdied three of the four par-fives. It was a great start with a birdie at the first, but four birdies and one bogey, shooting something in the 60s to start off with, I'm really pleased with that.

"Jordan had a pretty strong finish there but this is my best start in a few years. It's such a hard golf course to play catch-up on. If you start to chase it around here, that's when you start to make mistakes.

"But to be right up there and have the ability to stay patient, because of the position I'm in, that's a nice luxury I have over the next few days."

McIlroy said he had found the greens tricky early on, but was pleased with the way he adapted as his round progressed.

He said: "If you short-side yourself you've got these little ledges to come up over and then the down-slope and with how fast and firm these greens are.

"The SubAir (system) must have been running nearly all night. Those greens are much faster and firmer than what we were practising on, so there is a bit of an adjustment the first few holes. But I felt like I did that pretty well."

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