Rory McIlroy put aside pre-tournament controversy and lack of local knowledge to birdie the opening two holes on route to shooting a four under par 67 at the Riviera Country Club, and day one Northern Trust Open.

It is McIlroy’s first event on the PGA Tour since competing in last fortnight’s Omega Dubai Desert Classic.

“First time here competitively and I just wanted to get off to a decent start,” McIlroy said. “There are a few opportunities on the back nine and I managed to take advantage of a couple of them.”

His card remained pretty clean after he began birdie-birdie in Pacific Palisades, Calif., as McIlroy posted three more birdies versus one bogey the rest of the way.

Rory McIlroy pretty happy with himself shooting a 67 in his first competitive round at Riviera.

But it didn’t seem to faze the four-time Major winning McIlroy despite having to unnecessarily defend his workout ethics following comments by a Golf Channel staffer who won one tournament in his career.

“The course played a lot differently today than I experienced on Tuesday and Wednesday,” McIlroy said.

“It was a lot softer today so you had to adjust for that a little bit. But that helped me a little bit. Being able to control my irons into greens and the ball didn’t go that far when it hit the green.”

McIlroy also pointed to his flatstick, especially with what it did on lag putting, as an asset on Thursday. The stats back up his enthusiasm, as McIlroy gained 1.424 strokes putting against the field average during the first round.

Rory McIlroy on route to a round of 67 day one 2016 Northern Trust Open. (Photo – USA Today)

Chez Reavie, Bubba Watson and Luke List all posted 66s, and Camilo Villegas is 5 under on his round through 13, to sit one ahead of McIlroy. The Northern Irishman is currently T-5 as the afternoon wave winds down its rounds.

And McIlroy was certainly encouraged by what he did in his first competitive trip around Riviera.

“All of the things that you need to do around this golf course, I did pretty well today,” McIlroy said

• Thanks to www.golfweek for extra reporting.