Rory McIlroy brought his putter along for the ride in taking Route 66 and muscle his way to a share of lead day one of the Arnold Palmer Invitational.

McIlroy, and winner of the event in 2018, sensationally capped his round with five birdies in succession from his 11^th hole to 15^th holes of his round in bright but cool morning conditions on the famed Bay Hill course in suburban Orlando.

He was later joined very late in the day by Canadian Correy Conners who missed a par putt at his last to end the day tied with McIlroy on six under.

Bryson DeChambeau is lying third after his round of 65.

The World No. 8 ranked McIlroy started his birdie run in holing a whopping 56-footer at the par-4 second hole on the scorecard, a 23-footer at the next, two putts from 40-feet at his 13^th, four-feet on his 14^th and then ending the birdie blitz in sending a 26-footer to the bottom of the cup at the par-4 sixth or the 15^th hole of his round.

That’s 111-feet or 38.9 metres of birdie putts and also after averaging some 30 putts last week on the west coast of Florida, McIlroy officially recorded just 26 putts.

Of those 26 putts, McIlroy had 11 one putts and also helping his round was finding 14 of 18 Bay Hill greens in regulation, including finding all greens in regulation over his inward half.

One of those clearly delighted was McIlroy’s father, Gerry and walking with a limited number of spectators allowed into the $9.3m event.

“It was good. It wasn’t like that quick, obviously in total the 66 is a great way to start the tournament, but the first few holes were a little slow going and I made a really good birdie on 14 and that sort of got me, got the round going,” said McIlroy.

“The two 2s on the back nine or my front nine were great. Coming off last week where I really struggled on the par-3s, and today I played them in 3-under par, so quite a turnaround.

“But, yeah, I played well after that and hit some really good shots, some good drives, I saw a lot of really positive signs out there today, which was, which is really encouraging”.

There was just one bogey and McIlroy showing the first visible signs of the frustration that has dogged him in recent weeks was evident in playing the 18^th or the ninth hole of his round.

Last four holes for @McIlroyRory:

Birdie
Birdie
Birdie
Birdie

He leads @APInv.#QuickHits pic.twitter.com/Czm1gKHfZt

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) March 4, 2021

McIlroy was to the right front of the green and just over 40-feet to the flag when he chipped his third shot 10-feet past the flag and showed his disappointment by slamming his club into the ground.

And then missing his par putt, McIlroy back-handed his ball into the water in holing out for a bogey ‘5’.

In the bigger 18-hole picture it was McIlroy close to his best and wasn’t McIlroy pleased.

“I’ve always felt comfortable here,” McIlroy added.

There was just one bogey and McIlroy showed the first visible signs of the frustration that has dogged him in recent weeks was evident in playing the 18th or the ninth hole of his round.

McIlroy was to the right front of the green and just over 40-feet to the flag when he chipped his third shot 10-feet past the flag and showed his disappointment by slamming his club into the ground.

And then is missing his par putt, McIlroy back-handed his ball into the water in holing out for a bogey ‘5’.

In the bigger 18-hole picture it was McIlroy close to his best.

“I saw a statistic the other day that this course more than any other one the PGA Tour the correlation between strokes gained off the tee and performance at this course is higher than anywhere else.

“Myself and Bryson are No. 1 and 2 in ‘strokes gained off the tee’ for the seasons and we both shot two good scores today.

“It’s one of these places where there’s a lot of holes where everyone just hits it in the same spots off the tee, but then when you can give yourself an advantage by taking driver and getting it up there like on No. 3 and No. 6

“Whereas some of the shorter guys are having to go up the sliver of fairway up the right when longer guys don’t have to really worry about that.

“So, I would say this is pretty much my best round of the year.

“I opened up with 64 in Abu Dhabi, which was really good, but I just think with what I’ve been working on over the last few weeks it’s just started to feel a little more comfortable today, which was nice to see.”

McIlroy is contesting the opening two rounds alongside fellow Europeans and fellow Arnold Palmer winners Francesco Molinari and Tyrrell Hatton, and finished way ahead of the duo.

Defending champion Hatton had just one birdie in a five-over par 77 while 2019 winner Molinari had just two birdies and finished bogey, double-bogey in a horror 78 to be lying 117^th in the 123-player field.