Somewhat time away from golf paid off for birthday boy Rory McIlroy.

The world’s third-ranked participant shot a 3-under 68 on the Wells Fargo Championship on Thursday in his first event since lacking the reduce on the Masters, leaving him three pictures behind first-round chief Tommy Fleetwood.

Fleetwood’s 6-under 65 was one stroke higher than Xander Schauffele, Kevin Streelman, Taylor Moore, Okay.H. Lee and Ryan Palmer, who're tied for second after opening 66s.

Patrick Cantlay, with Tiger Woods’ former caddie Joe LaCava on his bag, shot 67.

McIlroy withdrew from the HBC Heritage following a disappointing second spherical 77 at Augusta National, a controversial choice that value him a $3 million bonus for failing to fulfill the taking part in necessities for the PGA Tour’s new Player Impact Program.

The Northern Irishman mentioned earlier within the week he didn’t contact his golf equipment for greater than two weeks, including that he wanted a “reset” to achieve some perspective as a result of golf had begun to eat his life.

He regarded contemporary on Thursday.

“It was just really nice to be out there again,” McIlroy mentioned.

It’s no shock McIlroy is off to a robust begin at Quail Hollow, a course that matches his sport. He has gained the Wells Fargo Championship thrice and completed within the high 10 9 occasions in 11 begins.

It’s additionally the positioning of his first PGA Tour victory in 2010 and the place he set a event scoring document at 21-under 267 in a dominating seven-stroke win in 2015. He gained once more in 2021, making him the event’s solely three-time champion.

“I feel relaxed here,” McIlroy mentioned. “I think if you come back to the site of your first win on tour, and I’ve gotten to know (Quail Hollow president Johnny) Harris really well and it’s just a level of comfort at this golf course and at this club that I probably don’t have at any other venue on tour.” McIlroy despatched his opening tee shot on No. 10 down the green and a fan yelled “Happy birthday, Rory.” He went on shoot 34-34, some becoming numbers for his thirty fourth birthday.

McIlroy’s solely hiccup got here on No. 7, when he despatched his tee shot means proper and out of bounds, forcing him to hit a provisional. McIlroy took benefit of his second alternative, hammering a 366-yard drive down the green. He wound up lacking a 22-foot par putt to complete along with his solely bogey.

He recovered on the closing ninth gap, spinning his method shot to inside 11 ft to arrange a birdie.

“I didn’t want to spend my birthday afternoon grinding on the range, so it was nice to play OK,” McIlroy mentioned with amusing.

Fleetwood, who has gained six occasions on the European Tour however by no means on the PGA Tour, completed a bogey-free spherical with birdies at Nos. 17 and 18 at Quail Hollow’s tough three-hole closing stretch dubbed the “Green Mile.” “I just have to keep going and wait for those really big results and hopefully start contending again up at the top of the leaderboard and we’ll see what we can do from there,” Fleetwood mentioned.

Schauffele appeared able to take management of the event early after racing to 7 below after 15 holes. But he bogeyed two of the three last holes to give up the lead.

“I really had it going there. The ball was on a string for a bit and I did everything really well,” Schauffele mentioned. “It’s a championship-style golf course, so played really well through 15 holes and then had a little hiccup there coming in, so it is what it is.” Cantlay appeared to mesh nicely with LaCava, who was on the bag for 12 of Woods’ event wins, together with the 2019 Masters.

Cantlay, who has performed with out a yardage guide in his pocket since turning professional, positioned rapid belief in LaCava, who helped him learn a tough uphill birdie putt on No. 8.

LaCava had labored as soon as earlier than with Cantlay, on the Genesis Invitational in 2021 when Woods was injured, and got here extremely advisable by Fred Couples.

“He’s just a great dude,” Cantlay mentioned. “I trust Fred a lot, he’s a good friend of mine. I’ve gotten pretty close to him over the years, so when he says something like that, I know he means it.” Defending champion and two-time winner Max Homa shot 70.

The ever-improving Tony Finau, who has gained 4 of the final 18 tournaments he has entered — together with final week’s Mexico Open — rallied to shoot 71 after birdieing two of his last three holes.

Jordan Spieth had a 72 in his first look on the event since 2013.