Rory McIlroy (-5) won the opening round of the U.S. Open — beyond just his heavyweight bout with playing partners Scottie Scheffler (+1) and Xander Schauffele (E). The Northern Irishman fired a bogey-free 65 at Pinehurst No. 2 on Thursday, finishing in style with a lengthy birdie putt to hit the clubhouse tied with Patrick Cantlay (-5) for the lead.

“I thought I'd left it short,” McIlroy admitted. “That's why I walked off it. Full disclosure. It looked good, though.”

The three best golfers in the galaxy, per the Official World Golf Ranking, DataGolf, and Strokes Gained: Total — teed off at 1:14 p.m ET amid humid conditions in the sandhills of North Carolina. McIlroy was locked in from jump.

The four-time major champion got rolling with a birdie on the par-4 fourth, set up by snug approach with his six iron. On the par-5 fifth, he elicited roars with a chip-in from off the green — precisely the type of short-game excellence required at Pinehurst No. 2, replete with its signature “turtle-back” greens.

McIlroy was also in his bag off the tee. He bombed with the driver and drilled low cuts with his 3-w00d. He hit 11 of 14 fairways, enabling him to land 15 of 18 greens in regulation.

He birdied the next par-5, on No. 10. And the behemoth par-4 16th.

“My short game was good early on,” McIlroy said in his post-round interview on Peacock. “I chipped in at 5 and had a really good up-and-down on 6, another really good up-and-down on 8. But apart from that, I think I hit every other green. It was a really controlled round of golf.

“Felt like that score was pretty deserved.”

McIlroy and Cantlay hold a one stroke lead over Ludvig Aberg (-4).

“Just trying to be super stoic,” McIlroy said about his intended demeanor. “Just trying to be as even-keeled as I possibly can be. I really feel like that's the thing that has served me well in these U.S. Opens over the past few years. Just trying to be 100 percent committed to the shots and 100 percent committed to having a good attitude.”

Scheffler, by contrast, was unusually out of sorts off the tee (“Golly!”, he yelped after a wayward drive on No. 14). Schauffele, the reigning PGA Championship winner, spent much of his day scrambling, though largely with success. He overcame three front-nine bogeys thanks to superb chipping and long-distance putting.

“I enjoy playing in these groups,” said McIlroy. “When you've been out here for, whatever it is, 16 or 17 years, sometimes you need a little extra to get the juices going, and being in a group like that definitely helps.”

McIlroy is seeking his fifth major victory, and first since the 2014 PGA Championship. He won back-t0-back events on the PGA Tour in April, though one was a team event (the Zurich Classic of New Orleans), while Scheffler skipped the Wells Fargo Championship (and the Zurich). McIlroy finished T22 at the Masters and T19 at the PGA Championship.

The last four times McIlroy has opened a major with a bogey-free round, he's ended up in the winner's circle, per the Athletic's Justin Ray. McIlroy's only previous bogey-free round at a U.S. Open came on Thursday at Congressional in 2011.

McIlroy also fired a 65 to kick off his 2023 U.S. Open at Los Angeles Country Club en route to a runner-up finish. McIlroy has finished in the top-10 in each of his last four U.S. Open starts.

“Certainly the major championships that I've won or the ones that I've played well at, I've always seemed to get off to a good start, and it's nice to get off to another one,” he said.

The McIlroy, Scheffler, and Schauffele supergroup will tee off at 7:29 a.m ET on Friday.

“A nice bit of momentum going into the morning round tomorrow,” said McIlroy.