Mcilroy nets tie for lead at Quail Hollow

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Rory

Mcilroy looked every bit like a player who has won twice at the Wells Fargo Championship.

He just didn’t feel like one.

Twice when he was out of position off the tee, he made birdies. He missed a 4-foot birdie putt after his most amazing recovery of all. And late in his round Thursday, he ran off three straight birdies for a share of the lead with Joel Dahmen at 5-under-par 66, his lowest start in 10 appearances at Quail Hollow.

Walking to the scoring area, he smiled and said, “Managed my game.”

In his first start since tying for 21st at the Masters — his lone finish out of the top 10 this year — Mcilroy got out of trouble and made enough putts to keep moving in the right direction.

Dahmen, a cancer survivor who tries not to take himself too seriously, played a more steady game. Playing three groups behind the large crowd following Mcilroy, he kept bogeys off his card and holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 18th.

They were a shot ahead of a group that included Patrick Reed, who is having the opposite year of Mcilroy. The former Masters champion has yet to finish in the top 10.

Defending champion Jason Day led a large pack at 68.

Dahmen tied for 12th at The Players Championship and earned slightly more than $250,000, which made him feel like “the richest man alive.” He decided to grow in a moustache, which he kept for good luck until hitting a ball in the water last week at the team event in New Orleans. So he shaved. But he’s still playing well enough to think this might be the week he at least gives himself a chance.

“I want to be in the hunt with nine to play. That’s the goal,” he said. “I haven’t really been there yet. I’m good enough to. I should be there. I should have chances by now. I just kind of need to get out of my own way and let it go.”

LPGA:

At Daly City, Calif., long-hitting Anne van Dam of the Netherlands two-putted for birdie on the par-5 18th for a 5-under 67 and a share of the first-round lead with South Koreans So Yeon Ryu and Eun-hee Jin in the Mediheal Championship. Van Dam, 23, bogeyed two of the first four holes.

At Shenzhen, China, Jorge Campillo began his bid for a second straight tour win by shooting a 7-under 65 in the first round of the Volvo China Open to share the lead with Las Vegas resident David Lipsky and Tapio Pulkkanen. Campillo made five birdies and an eagle in a bogey-free round.

European PGA: