| -6 T Fleetwood (Eng); -5 KH Lee (Kor), T Moore (US), R Palmer (US), X Schauffele (US), K Streelman (US) |
| Selected others: -4 P Cantlay (US), A Scott (Aus); -3 R McIlroy (NI), J Thomas (US); -2 M Fitzpatrick (Eng), T Hatton (Eng), S Power (Ire); -1 H Hall (Eng), M Wallace (Eng), C Tarren (Eng) |
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Tommy Fleetwood leads the Wells Fargo Championship by one shot after carding a superb six-under-par 65 in round one.
The Englishman concluded his bogey-free round with birdies on the 17th and 18th to lead a group of five that includes Olympic champion Xander Schauffele.
Three-time winner Rory McIlroy, playing in his first event since missing the cut at last month’s Masters, hit a 68 at Quail Hollow on his 34th birthday.
US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick is a shot further back on two under.
I feel relaxed here – McIlroy
The Northern Irishman said earlier in the week that he withdrew from April’s RBC Heritage PGA Tour event, after his disappointment at Augusta National, for his “mental and emotional wellbeing”.
But after a round featuring four birdies and one bogey, the world number three said: “I feel relaxed here. 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.
“I’ve played here so many times I know where to miss it. I missed a few greens but I didn’t feel like I hit the ball that badly.
“It was just really nice to be out there again – nice to feel like I played well. I didn’t want to spend my birthday afternoon grinding on the range.”
He started Thursday’s round on the 10th hole and got up-and-down from a greenside bunker to birdie his first hole of the day.
He picked up a further shot at the 14th and then recovered to avoid dropping a shot at the 15th after finding himself in another greenside bunker.
The four-time major winner saved par from off the green on 16 and 17 and again on the second and the third.
McIlroy’s only bogey came after he drove out of bounds on the par-five seventh.
He thumped his provisional drive 352 yards down the middle of the fairway, hit his 170-yard approach to 24 feet and narrowly missed a putt that would have saved his par.
The European Ryder Cup player got the shot back on his last hole of the day, the par-four ninth, sinking an 11-foot birdie putt to finish three under.
