Rory McIlroy shares the lead as his bid for back-to-back Masters starts strongly

By Carl Markham, Press Association, Augusta

Defending champion Rory McIlroy basked in the warm Georgia sunshine and the glory of his return to Augusta to lay down a marker in his bid for rare back-to-back Masters wins with a share of the first-round lead.

The Northern Irishman, seeking to become only the fourth man after Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods and Sir Nick Faldo to retain the green jacket, burst into life following a nondescript seven holes in which he struggled with his driving.

A brilliant approach to the long, steeply uphill eighth brought his second birdie of the day and moved him back into red figures and he hit it even closer at the next to turn in two under.

That was two behind the then-leaders Patrick Reed, the 2018 champion, and fellow American Sam Burns, but McIlroy pressed the accelerator from there.

The saying in these parts is the Master does not start until the back nine on a Sunday, but the world number two shifted through the gears McIlroy with a birdie at the 13th, the hole he doubled-bogeyed from 90 yards in his final round a year ago, having driven into the pine straw.

He rolled in a six-foot birdie at the next before finding himself behind the same trees on the left-hand side of the 15th fairway, from where he produced one of the shots of his career 12 months ago.

There were too many trunks to go around this time, however, and with discretion the better part of valour he opted to go through and under, pitched to back of the green and then holed a wicked, downhill curling putt for his fifth birdie in eight holes.

He was close to another birdie at the 17th and produced a great recovery from a fairway bunker at the last.

With the sun and breeze making the already fast greens harder and even more slippery, his five-under 67 – to join Burns at the top of the leaderboard – set the target for fellow Masters champions Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler who were among the late starters.