Shane Lowry and Rory McIlroy both hung tough in the opening round of the Memorial Tournament at Muirfield Village, the penultimate $20 million signature event of the PGA Tour’s season. Having both got off to poor starts they recovered to each sign for sub-par opening rounds in Dublin, Ohio, where the trio of Tommy Fleetwood, Wyndham Clark and JJ Spaun share the early clubhouse lead on five-under-par 67.In Lowry’s case, a bogey-bogey start had him on the back foot from the off only to recover for a two-under 70, while McIlroy – who had a double-bogey on his third hole, where he put his approach into the water – managed to salvage a one-under-par 71.Lowry, who is kickstarting a four-week stint on tour that will also take in the Canadian Open, the US Open and the Travelers before shifting his attention to events in Europe, had a potentially disastrous start in running up bogeys at his opening two holes after being short with his approach to the first and then finding a greenside bunker on the second.Playing for the first time since the US PGA, Lowry managed to birdie the par-5 fifth only to drop another shot on the seventh when again finding a greenside bunker with his approach. That seemed to kick him into life, though, as the Offalyman rolled in a six-footer for birdie on the eighth and then claimed four birdies on the homeward run – on the 11th, 13th, 15th and 17th, where he sank an 18-footer – to only one bogey, on the par-3 16th.That strong finish enabled Lowry to move up the leaderboard in the right direction and with some momentum to carry forward.McIlroy, also playing for the first time since the PGA but with a different schedule that will see him skip the Canadian Open before pitching up at Shinnecock Hills for the US Open in a fortnight, rebounded from a bad double-bogey six on the third with a hat-trick of birdies from the fifth, the longest putt in that stretch being an eight-footer on the sixth.Rory McIlroy looks at the line of his putt on the first green at Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio. Photograph: Dylan Buell/Getty Images The Masters champion moved to two under on his card with a birdie on the 14th where he hit his approach shot dead, before bogeying the closing hole after finding the left rough off the tee.“I played better than okay, felt like I played pretty well for the most part. Especially after making that double on the third hole, to play the rest of the round in three under was good. It’s a tough course, you have to concentrate on every shot ... I would like to hit a few more fairways, give myself a few more chances from the short grass, but overall, not a bad score to build from,” admitted McIlroy.Of recovering from that early round double-bogey on the third, McIlroy described his mindset: “[It’s about] just understanding that there’s 69 more holes to go in the golf tournament and there’s a long way to go and a lot of things can happen. “I’ve made plenty of double-bogeys in my career, and I’ve made plenty of double-bogeys in tournaments that I’ve won. You play enough events, you learn to ride the highs and the lows and not get too excited or too down either way.”Fleetwood, winner of last season’s FedEx Cup but who missed the cut in the PGA, rediscovered some form headed into the US Open at a venue where he finished runner-up to Brooks Koepka in 2018.The Englishman posted five birdies in an impressive bogey-free round to join reigning US Open champion Spaun and former US Open champion Clark in the clubhouse on 67.“I got the most out of the round, totally. I got away with a couple of poor misses. Hit the pin a couple of times when it was going past. But in general I played okay, I played fine,” said Fleetwood. “I just wasn’t a hundred per cent by any means with my ball control from the fairway with my irons. But still shot five under, so it couldn’t have been that bad. I was just getting a little frustrated at the end not being able to execute the iron shots that I wanted to.”