Travelers Championship 2022: 'You want to ride that wave' - Rory McIlroy makes eight birdies to take clubhouse lead

Rory McIlroy made a stunning start to the Travelers Championship at TPC River Highlands. In what is his final event before next month’s Open Championship, McIlroy made eight birdies in a round of 62 to dispel any fears he could be jaded after a busy spell. Ad/> He was excellent from tee to green and rolled in a series of putts to fire himself to the top of the leaderboard.

Travelers ChampionshipTravelers Championship 2022: Betting tips as McIlroy and Scheffler head the fieldYESTERDAY AT 10:01 “The good thing is I have been playing well, so you want to ride that wave,” McIlroy said. “The win in Canada was great, getting into contention at the US Open as well. «Coming in here, fourth week in a row, I knew I was going to be a little tired, but when you are playing this well you want to keep it going.

»If I had have taken this week off I’d have been sat at home thinking it was a missed opportunity, so happy to be here.” After rain earlier in the week, and with conditions benign, the Connecticut track was there was the taking — and the likes of McIlroy and Xander Schauffele did not pass up the opportunity. The par five 13th, his fourth, saw McIlroy pick up his first birdie of the round in a somewhat unusual fashion. He found the greenside bunker with his approach and sent his splash shot off the far side of the green, only to chip in for a bonus birdie.

/> A second birdie followed on the superb 15th hole. McIlroy’s tee shot came up 20 yards short of the green and he played his pitch superbly as it rolled to the side of the hole for a tap-in bride. A third birdie came on the 18th courtesy of a brilliant wedge approach as McIlroy turned in three-under, and it was a similar story on the first hole — his 10th — with a superb