Rory McIlroy is three shots behind leader Xander Schauffele in second place after the first round of the Wells Fargo in Charlotte.

The Northern Irishman had a strong start to the tournament with an eagle, three birdies and one bogey through the first nine holes, but slipped with three birdies and three bogeys on the back nine.

He finished with a four under par 67, putting him tied in second place with American Collin Morikawa and Sweden’s Alex Noren.

McIlroy, who has won the tournament twice, said Quail Hollow is one of his favourite courses and that he has “always had a great affinity for this place”.

He said following his round: “Playing in front of these fans, I feel like Charlotte has sort of taken me in as one of their own. It’s been a great journey. I’ve celebrated I think 13 of my last 15 birthdays here as well because obviously when the tournament falls.

“Some awesome memories, and obviously trying to keep making more of those.”

Meanwhile, American Schauffele hit a seven under par 64 with six birdies and an eagle on the seventh hole while only dropping one shot. He found the trees at the 8th but was able to get relief from the rules official and dropped outside of the woods because of a temporary immovable object after coming to rest near a metal fence line.

“I hit it in the trees. My ball was probably like a foot, two feet from the fence.  I had what I could hit, a 4-iron or something low and just kind of run it through. If it gets stuck, I’ll just kind of hit my next one out.

“But I brought the rules official in there with me because I was like, you’ve got to be OK with this because this is literally the only shot I can hit. So Austin and I moved two massive rocks that weren’t embedded and then I got relief out of the junk and then hit a pretty good shot on the green from there. What was a very stressful moment turned into a pretty stressless par.”

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