Rory McIlroy leads the Memorial by three thanks to an opening 9-under 63

Apparently there are a lot of ways to handle the ending of a relationship. Rory McIlroy has decided the best answer for his is to make a whole lot of birdies.

Just four days removed from his final round 66 at the BMW PGA Championship to claim one of the biggest titles on the European Tour, it was back to work for McIlroy, who opened with a 9-under 63 at the Memorial to take a three-shot lead into the next three rounds.

Maybe the craziest thing about Rory’s opening round was what it could have been. His 9-under 63 was more than nine shots clear of the field average on Thursday at Muirfield Village, but it was one swing that really made the round go from really, really impressive to potentially historic.

Rory walked off the 11th green 7-under par, and after a par on the 12th it was up to Rory to close strong if he wanted to scare that sub-60 score. McIlroy put his tee shot in the middle of the fairway on the par-4 13th, and had just over 110 yards to the pin, but he pulled his wedge badly into the bunker, the ball plugged and he ended up making a double bogey.

Rory bounced back on the next hole with his second eagle of the day and his sixth eagle in his last five rounds of competitive golf, and he added another birdie on the 16th for good measure.

The highlights are below, so check out Rory’s opening round at the Memorial.

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