GMAC 75 as Rory and Padraig Card 68

Rory McIlroy produced a timely return to form ahead of his US Open title defence next week as he fired an opening two-under-par 68 at the St Jude Classic in Memphis.

McIlroy's round left him two behind clubhouse leader Jeff Maggert.

The Northern Irishman moved to three under after 10 but some long game struggles caused two back nine bogeys.

Padraig Harrington matched McIlroy's 68 but Graeme McDowell is nine behind after an opening 75.

World number two McIlroy went into the event after missing his last three cuts in a rare period of struggle for the 23-year-old.

McDowell, who like McIlroy started at the 10th, dropped to four over after eight with the 2010 US Open champion carding a double bogey at the 15th.

Further shots went at the fourth and seventh and McDowell's only birdie came at his closing hole.

Harrington produced a much steadier round of three birdies and a solitary bogey.

McIlroy hit only nine greens in regulation and missed more than half of his fairways but an excellent putting performance rescued him.

He twice saved par by holing out from more than eight feet and also slotted birdie putts of 16 and 10 feet.

Maggert's round left him a shot ahead of Arjun Atwal and Jeff Overton, who had also completed their rounds.

McIlroy and Harrington were joined on two under by Robert Allenby and Chad Campbell.

Hoey and Maybin Clear Nordea Cut

Michael Hoey improved on his first round finish to cards a round of 68 at the Nordea Masters to hold a share of 13th place going into the final two days at Brof Hoff Slot in Stockholm - on 6 under par. 

Gareth Maybin is three strokes further back in share of 40th place despite signing for a round of  67 on Thursday.

But Shane Lowry (76), Simon Thornton (74) and Damien McGrane 975) are all homeward bound after their over par rounds left them well adrift of the level par cut.

Lee Westwood once again proved that Sweden is a happy hunting ground for him as he carded a superb 64 to to open a three-shot lead, following up on his opening round of 68.

There were eight birdies - in a bogey-free round - to move to 12-under-par, ahead of a chasing pack of three that contained Scotland's Lloyd Saltman and home favourite Peter Hanson.

The Nordea Masters provided Westwood with his first European Tour victory in 1996 and he also won the event in 2000.

The Worksop golfer, currently ranked third in the world, was delighted to climb to the top of the leaderboard after day two.

"I've always enjoyed coming to Sweden, obviously winning here for the first time in 1996 gave me an affinity," he told the European Tour's website.

"And then I won again in 2000 when I won the money list so I've had a lot of success in Sweden and it's somewhere I enjoy coming to.

"I played nicely yesterday but today I played a little bit better. I'm getting to know the course a little bit better every day and it was there for the taking this morning. There was not a lot of wind and the greens were pretty pure.

"I'm putting the ball well and rolling it nicely on the greens which gives you confidence. I hit it pretty close so I gave myself a lot of chances."

Saltman, ranked 512 in the world, also carded a 64, the highlight of which was an albatross on the par-five 12th that came after he struck a sweet three iron which rolled in from some 237 yards.

"I had a great number," he said. "I started walking then heard a little roar and knew it was in, so that was nice."

Saltman and Hanson were joined in second by Spain's Carlos Del Moral who followed his opening 68 with a 67.

For his part, Hanson had a double bogey at the 11th but recovered in some style with three birdies in his next four holes.

"I didn't strike the ball as well as I would have hoped and 68 was a good result," said 2008 champion Hanson.

Richard Sterne of South Africa, Dutchman Maarten Lafeber, Spain's Ignacio Garrido and unheralded Argetine Emiliano Grillo shared on eight-under.

Meanwhile, a score of 72 meant overnight leader Magnus Carlsson was five shots off the lead along with English duo Richard Bland and Chris Wood at seven-under.

Sergio Garcia threatened briefly, but he found water at the par five 13th and made 69 to finish in an eight-man group at six-under.

Nordea Masters Leader board

US Open - McIlroy, Donald and Westwood

The US Open champion Rory McIlroy has been grouped with Luke Donald and Lee Westwood for the first two rounds of the US Open at Olympic Club in San Francisco.

The trio, who occupy the top three slots in the world rankings, have an afternoon tee-time on day one and head out at 1329 local time 

World number one Donald and number two Westwood will be looking for their first major while McIlroy is bidding to follow up his incredible eight-shot victory at Congressional 12 months ago.

Padraig Harrington is paired with 2012 US Ryder Cup Captain, Davis Love III, and another veteran of the bi-annual competition, David Toms.

US Open debutant Peter Lawrie, is grouped iwth Demark's Soren Kjeldsen, and Chez Reavie

Another eye-catching group is triple US Open champion Tiger Woods with four-time major winner Phil Mickelson and new Masters champ Bubba Watson.

The American trio go off in the morning wave at 0733 local time from the ninth tee.

Due to the proximity of the ninth tee to the Olympic Clubhouse, the USGA will send players off from the first and ninth tees (instead of the 10th) during the first two rounds.

In other notable groupings, Rickie Fowler tees off with fellow American Dustin Johnson and Japan's Ryo Ishikawa at 1358 (2158 UK) while 2010 US Open winner Graeme McDowell, Sergio Garcia and 2003 champion Jim Furyk are in the group behind McIlroy, Donald and Westwood and begin at 1340.

Two groups later at 1402, a trio of former champions - Ernie Els (1994 and 1997), Geoff Ogilvy (2006) and Angel Cabrera (2007) - get their bids under way.

Justin Rose is also an afternoon starter and goes off with Martin Kaymer and Hunter Mahan from the ninth tee at 1325 local.

Shane Bertsch, Martin Flores and Tommy Biershenk are the opening three-ball and get the tournament under way from the ninth at 0700 local (1500 UK).

Groupings and starting times for the opening round of the US Open at the par 34-36-70, 7,170-yard, The Olympic Club (Lake Course) in San Francisco, Calif. (a = amateur). 

Thursday

1st tee

7:15 a.m.: Scott Langley, Steve Lebrun, Beau Hossler (a)

7:26 a.m.: Jason Bohn, Raphael Jacquelin, J. B. Park

7:37 a.m.: Michael Thompson, TBD, Steve Marino

7:48 a.m.: Brendan Jones, George Coetzee, Gregory Bourdy

7:59 a.m.: Patrick Cantlay (a), Jonathan Byrd, Kyle Stanley

8:10 a.m.: Retief Goosen, Vijay Singh, Zach Johnson

8:21 a.m.: Paul Casey, Hiroyuki Fujita, Mark Wilson

8:32 a.m.: Adam Scott, Keegan Bradley, Webb Simpson

8:43 a.m.: Tim Clark, Toru Taniguchi, Rod Pampling

8:54 a.m.: Francesco Molinari, Bo Van Pelt, Peter Hanson

9:05 a.m.: D. A. Points, Dong-Hwan Lee, Kevin Streelman

9:16 a.m.: Edward Loar, Paul Claxton, Alistair Presnell

9:27 a.m.: Mark McCormick, Nick Sherwood (a), Cole Howard

9th tee

7:00 a.m.: Shane Bertsch, Martin Flores, Tommy Biershenk

7:11 a.m.: Scott Piercy, Matthew Baldwin, Matt Bettencourt

7:22 a.m.: Thomas Bjorn, Kevin Na, Branden Grace

7:33 a.m.: Phil Mickelson, Tiger Woods, Bubba Watson

7:44 a.m.: Joe Ogilvie, Stephen Ames, Tim Herron

7:55 a.m.: Davis Love III, Padraig Harrington, David Toms

8:06 a.m.: Carl Pettersson, Charl Schwartzel, Charles Howell III

8:17 a.m.: Robert Karlsson, Bob Estes, Robert Rock

8:28 a.m.: K. J. Choi, Y. E. Yang, K. T. Kim

8:39 a.m.: Fredrik Jacobson, Robert Garrigus, Alexander Noren

8:50 a.m.: Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano, Sang-Moon Bae, Rafael Cabrera-Bello

9:01 a.m.: Marc Warren, Anthony Summers, Michael Allen

9:12 a.m.: Hunter Hamrick, Tim Weinhart, Scott Smith

1st tee

12:45 p.m.: Casey Martin, Cameron Wilson (a), Dennis Miller

12:56 p.m.: Jim Herman, William Lunde, David Mathis

1:07 p.m.: Nicolas Colsaerts, Charlie Wi, Simon Dyson

1:18 p.m.: Alvaro Quiros, Gary Woodland, John Senden

1:29 p.m.: Rory McIlroy, Luke Donald, Lee Westwood

1:40 p.m.: Jim Furyk, Sergio Garcia, Graeme McDowell

1:51 p.m.: Stewart Cink, Trevor Immelman, Lucas Glover

2:02 p.m.: Ernie Els, Geoff Ogilvy, Angel Cabrera

2:13 p.m.: Martin Laird, Ben Crane, Anders Hansen

2:24 p.m.: Matteo Manassero, Aaron Baddeley, Miguel Angel Jimenez

2:35 p.m.: Brian Harman, TBD, Mikko Ilonen

2:46 p.m.: Brice Garnett, TBD, Jesse Mueller

2:57 p.m.: Brian Rowell, Alberto Sanchez (a), Brian Gaffney

9th tee

12:30 p.m.: John Peterson, Morgan Hoffmann, Aaron Watkins

12:41 p.m.: Jeff Curl, Nicholas Thompson, Casey Wittenberg

12:52 p.m.: Soren Kjeldsen, Chez Reavie, Peter Lawrie

1:03 p.m.: Michael Campbell, Olin Browne, Joe Durant

1:14 p.m.: Bill Haas, Nick Watney, Brandt Snedeker

1:25 p.m.: Martin Kaymer, Hunter Mahan, Justin Rose

1:36 p.m.: Steve Stricker, Ian Poulter, Matt Kuchar

1:47 p.m.: Jason Day, Louis Oosthuizen, Jason Dufner

1:58 p.m.: Rickie Fowler, Ryo Ishikawa, Dustin Johnson

2:09 p.m.: Hunter Haas, Tadahiro Takayama, Lee Slattery

2:20 p.m.: Alex Cejka, Kevin Chappell, Blake Adams

2:31 p.m.: James Hahn, Darron Stiles, Roberto Castro

2:42 p.m.: Brooks Koepka (a), TBD, Samuel Osborne

McIlroy Happy Walking in Memphis

Rory McIlroy hopes the decision to play at the St Jude Classic pays off before he begins the defence of his US Open title, as he doesn't normally play competitively the week before a major.

However he has made an exception this time around due to his recent poor run.

McIlroy has missed the cut at his last three events, including shooting a seven-over-par 79 in his second round at the Memorial in Ohio last Friday.

"Getting here and playing the course this morning, and seeing how excited people are just to have us here, I'm really happy to be here," he said after competing in the pro-am competition.

"I'm happy to get another competitive tournament in before next week. It'll be nice to turn around my form here this week and give myself a chance to win."

The 23-year-old admits that success in Memphis could lead to a permanent change in his schedule, adding: "If this week I play well and go into the US Open feeling really good about my game and I play well there, it's something that I might do in the future.

"But the main thing this week is to just get some more competitive golf in ... the last three tournaments I've played I've only played for two days and just haven't really felt like I've gotten into the tournaments."

At least McIlroy made the most of his failure to qualify for the weekend at the Memorial - it allowed him to go to San Francisco and play some rounds at the Olympic Club - the venue for next week's US Open.

"I went out and played a little at Olympic on Saturday evening, Sunday, Monday and Tuesday," he said.

"It was good to play a few rounds there and get a feel for the golf course.

"I did a lot of good work with my coach Michael Bannon right there in San Francisco. Even though it wasn't the way I wanted to spend the weekend, I still felt I got a lot out of it."

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