PORTRUSH, Northern Ireland — Rory McIlroy put on a show for the thousands of fans who cheered his every move at his home British Open at Royal Portrush as the Masters champion moved himself into contention on the first day.

Golf’s newest member of the elite career Grand Slam club was far from his best off the tee but made up for it on the greens, three birdies on his front nine leaving him just three shots off the lead after carding a 1-under 70.

There is a five-way tie for first at 4-under 67, including American Harris English. Joining English at the top of the leaderboard are Jacob Skov Olesen of Denmark, Li Haotong of China, Matt Fitzpatrick of England and Christiaan Bezuidenhout of South Africa.

Olesen, who won the 2024 British Amateur Championship, played collegiately at Ranger College, TCU and Arkansas. Fitzpatrick won the 2013 U.S. Amateur and the 2022 U.S. Open.

Just a stroke back at 3-under 68 are Texan Scottie Scheffler, Englishmen Matthew Jordan and Tyrrell Hatton, and Thailand’s Sadom Kaewkanjana.

Some other notable first round scores include: Rickie Fowler (69), Brian Harman (69), Maverick McNealy (69), Justin Rose (69) and Lucas Glover (69).

Six-time major champion Phil Mickelson carded a 1-under 70.

While there was no repeat of his out-of-bounds quadruple-bogey eight at the first when the major made its long-awaited return to the Dunluce Links in 2019, McIlroy still missed the fairway and bogeyed. But with galleries 10-deep in places craning their necks to see their hero from an hour down the road in Holywood, McIlroy kicked into gear, holing from 15 feet at the par-five second and a 27-footer up the slope for birdie at the driveable par-four fifth.

World No. 1 Scheffler missed a birdie putt at the last hole which would have given him a share of the lead, but his 68 was the lowest score by a player who hit three or fewer fairways in The Open in the last 25 years.

“When it’s raining sideways it’s actually, believe it or not, not that easy to get the ball in the fairway. Thank you guys all for pointing that out,” said the reigning US PGA champion.

Asked whether there was a shot he was really pleased with, he replied: “No.”

Scheffler’s playing partner and popular 2019 champion Shane Lowry shot one under and the Irishman said: “I’m happy. I’ve fought with this round of golf in my head for a few weeks now. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy. I felt like I managed to handle myself very well. The crowds were amazing and I tried to use that as motivation.”

Defending champion Xander Schauffele said his level-par 71 “wasn’t a very exciting round”, while 55-year-old Mickelson carded his best Open round since 2018 to sit one under, holing a bunker shot for par at the third, having left his first attempt in the sand.

Some of the other golfers at 70 were Sam Burns, 1997 Open champion Justin Leonard, 2015 Open winner Zach Johnson, Joaquín Niemann, Jon Rahm and Tony Finau. Texan Jordan Spieth, who won the 2017 Open title, is at 2-over 73.