McIlroy opens with 63; Woods struggles to a 71

Rory McIlroy nearly made a hole-in-one on the same short par-4 that Tiger Woods hit his first competitive shot in Mexico out of bounds. McIlroy kept right on rolling to an 8-underpar 63 for a one-shot lead Thursday in the Mexico Championship in Mexico City.

“I wouldn’t say it was easy,” McIlroy said. “I hit a lot of good golf shots, but I left myself a lot of tap-ins for birdies.

“As 63s go, I shot 63 at Riviera last week, but this felt probably a little more stress-free.”

Woods opened with a double-bogey and salvaged his round with a 71.

McIlroy’s only setback was trying to hit through the trees and catching a limb that led to a bogey on the par-5 sixth hole near the end of his round. He bounced back with a 20-foot birdie and wound up with a one-shot lead over Dustin Johnson.

Justin Thomas, who lost in a playoff last year to Phil Mickelson, and Matt Kuchar were at 66.

Mickelson, two weeks removed from his victory at Pebble Beach, bogeyed three of his first four holes on the back, shot 40 on the front and opened with a 79.

Andres Romero shot a 6under 66 in windy conditions to take the first-round lead in the PGA Tour’s Puerto Rico Open at Rio Grande.

Eun-Hee Ji of South Korea led the LPGA Thailand by two strokes after opening with a 9-under-par 63 in Chonburi.