Wyndham Clark started his week by qualifying for the U.S. Open, and in the RBC Canadian Open, he shot a 7-under 63 to seize the lead after the first round.

Clark started with five birdies in his first nine holes and avoided bogeys at St. George's Golf and Country Club, where he shot a 63 or lower for the third time on the PGA Tour.

In his round of 66, Rory McIlroy recorded six birdies, tying him with Tony Finau, Lee Hodges, and Mackenzie Hughes. All of them would be happy to win their respective national open tournaments for the first time since 1954.

Because of the COVID-19 epidemic, which cancelled golf's fourth-oldest competition the previous two years, Rory McIlroy has been unable to defend his title for three years. At Hamilton, he won by seven strokes after closing with a 61.

"Just because of the rain and how responsive it was, I felt like the course was there to go even lower," McIlroy said. "Overall, I'm pleased with how the week started, especially after a poor weekend at the Memorial.

Clark didn't break par in the Memorial's final three rounds, and his 36-hole qualifying on Monday didn't appear promising. But then he made five birdies in an 11-hole stretch to qualify for the U.S. Open, which will be held next week at The Country Club outside of Boston.

"It's encouraging to see some putts go in," Clark commented. "It's been a while since I filmed a low one." In my previous few events, I've had a lot of two-under-par, three-under-par, and four-under-par rounds, but I felt like I left a lot of shots on the table. This round, I made the most of pretty much everything available to me.

Clark birdied all but one of his holes, including an 8-foot par putt on No. 12 early in his round.

Fitzpatrick began and ended his round with a birdie, sinking a 35-foot putt on the par-3 eighth hole to finish with a 64.

Fitzpatrick stated, "Really, really thrilled with the way I played today, absolutely solid all around." I had a few chances to get it a little closer, but aside from that, I'm being picky. Everything was going swimmingly in my game.

PGA champion Justin Thomas started with a 69 after deciding he would play the week before a major because it worked so well last year. He would play the week before a major because it worked so well last year.

In the afternoon, Sam Burns, fresh off a victory at Colonial two weeks ago, shot a 67, while top-ranked Masters champion Scottie Scheffler shot a 69. The Canadian Open has drawn five of the world's top ten players.

They were well aware of a rival circuit in England, the first in the LIV Golf Invitational series, in which 17 PGA Tour players have been declared ineligible for the remainder of the season.

McIlroy said he might still watch part of the streaming since he enjoys golf, is inquisitive, and has friends in the field. However, he is suspicious of the names given to the 12 LIV Golf teams, such as Niblicks and Cleeks.

McIlroy stated that he would not be purchasing any team merchandise anytime soon.