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Freshly minted career Grand Slam man Rory McIlroy and his good pal Shane Lowry got their defence of the Zurich Classic of New Orleans off to a solid start with a steady round of 64 that leaves them six off the leaders at TPC Louisiana.

ZURICH CLASSIC LEADERBOARD

Playing the course the wrong way round, the Irish pair relied on Lowry to do most of the heavy lifting on their front nine, with the Offaly man's score counting on seven of the nine holes in the fourball better-ball format.

Lowry birdied the 10th and 11th, the duo's first two holes of the day, and also picked up shots at the 13th and 18th as they headed to their second nine on four-under-par overall.

McIlroy found some of that Augusta form just in time for the second half of the round, he birdied the first before a fantastic eagle on the second hole got the team to seven-under-par.

They picked up another shot on the fourth via a Lowry birdie but a pair of bogeys on the difficult sixth sent them back to seven-under before McIlroy's birdie on the par-five seventh eased them back to their final score of eight-under-par.

The Irishmen have plenty of work to do if they're to chase down the first-round leaders, Isaiah Salinda and Kevin Velo, who shot a staggering better-ball score of 58 which took them to 14-under. The Hojgaard brothers, Nicolai and Rasmus, carded a wonderful 59 to sit on 13-under.

Round two will be played in a foursomes alternate shot format, with McIlroy and Lowry teeing off at 6.49pm.