Rory McIlroy and Shane Lowry are among four teams tied for the lead following the first round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans.
The Irish duo opened with four straight birdies en route to carding an 11-under 61 in Four-ball play on Thursday.
Speaking after the round, Lowry said: “We both played nice golf.
“We both made some nice birdies and contributed to the team, and I think we’re very happy with the day.”
They are joined at the top of the leaderboard by the pairings of Ryan Brehm and Mark Hubbard, Ben Kohles and Patton Kizzire, and Aaron Rai and David Lipsky.
England’s Rai and his American partner put together a bogey-free round which featured 11 birdies.
McIlroy previously said that he had approached Lowry about teaming up for this year’s edition of the PGA Tour’s only team event, having previously resisted repeated overtures from two-time Masters champion Bubba Watson.
“We’re staying downtown. We’ve ventured out a couple of times,” McIlroy said.
“Yeah, it’s a cool city, great food scene. I thought the crowds out there today and the support that we got was amazing. Looking forward to more of that over the next three days.”
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Eric Cole makes an ace at the fifth on the 14th alongside partner Russ Cochran at Zurich Classic
Lowry added: “I definitely felt today I was less hard on myself than I’ve been in the last few weeks when I hit a couple of bad shots. It’s nice to know you’ve got Rory McIlroy backing you up.
“But yeah, I definitely feel like there’s a nice vibe out there with the two of us. We know each other’s games so well. We’ve played a lot of golf. We play a lot of golf at home together, and we just know each other so well.”
Watch Friday’s second round of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans from 2.15pm live on Sky Sports Golf
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